Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I welcome the Reform of Judicial Appointments Procedures Bill 2013 and commend my colleague, Deputy Mac Lochlainn, on bringing forward this new legislation because it is important, particularly in the current climate. All Members were elected in 2011, when they made commitments on change and reform of the political system and this is an example from Deputy Mac Lochlainn today of bringing forward legislation to introduce new ideas and reforms into the judicial system and into the wider justice system. It is important to make that point because speaking as a member of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, and regardless of whether Members like it, the justice system has taken a major hit over the past six or 12 months with regard to a major lack of trust and lack of confidence on the part of the public. All Members have been inundated with cases of allegations of miscarriages of justice and have witnessed the shenanigans regarding the former Minister for Justice and Equality, the former Garda Commissioner and the Secretary General in the Department of Justice and Equality. While these issues are being dealt with through a commission of inquiry and through the Guerin report, the theme I hear constantly from the public is there must be reform and change. Moreover, in the context of this legislation in particular, trust must be restored in the judicial system and unless Members do that, they will be doing a great disservice to the public. As the Title of this Bill suggests, the subject of discussion is reform, as well as change, a meritocracy and accountability. It is important to make this point and I intend to discuss individual sections of the Bill in a couple of minutes.

However, when discussing this subject, there is another side of the justice system to which everyone appears to be turning a blind eye because Members are so busy beating up one another over procedures, what went on, what was said and for how long the letter was held up in the Department of Justice and Equality. Meanwhile, young men are being shot in the streets and bodies are being dumped on islands. There were two such cases concerning people from my constituency recently and nobody batted an eyelid. More than 1,500 people attended a funeral in Coolock this week and it did not get a mention anywhere. People are being shot in gangland killings and Members should be focusing on these issues as well. Although 26% of violent crime in this State arises from the gangland sector of criminality, Members are not also discussing these issues but are being distracted. My point is that while Members seek reform of the judicial system, they should never take their eyes from the slaughter going on the streets. Kids are dying in the streets, young people are dying in gang-related deaths and their families are mourning because of the scourge of drugs within Irish society. It is important to make these points within the context of this broader debate. Again, it goes back to the issue of public trust. The public want to trust the justice system and, as I mentioned earlier, all Members have been inundated with complaints and allegations of miscarriages of justice.

To return to the Bill itself, it amends the procedures used by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board to nominate individuals for positions within the Judiciary to end the practice of political appointments to the Bench. That is the purpose of the legislation and I strongly endorse and agree with my colleague, Deputy Ross, in this regard. He has been talking about this issue for many years and has presented legislation on it in the House. He has the full support of the Independent group with regard to this reform because it is important. Confidence in the justice system is contingent on a Judiciary that is free from political control or political or other bias. It is essential that there is an independent and impartial Judiciary that is representative of the community it serves. This is also an important point. As far as I am concerned, judicial appointments should be made on the basis of merit from a list of qualified candidates who are representative of the community. Let us bring in equality, a meritocracy and good judgment on behalf of the citizens of this State. When one considers the legislation more closely, it proposes that any potential candidates should satisfy the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board that they have relevant legal experience. They of course must have the qualifications to enable them to make judicial decisions with integrity, fairness and impartiality. Members should focus on those three words, namely, "integrity", "fairness" and "impartiality" and how, sadly, they have been missing in recent months in this House in particular with regard to many issues.

If one digs further into the Bill, section 4 sets out that in the appointment of judicial officeholders, there should be no discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds. Section 5 is part of a move to work towards a policy of affirmative action to increase judicial diversity. I consider sections 4 and 5 to be excellent provisions. Section 6 deals with an extremely important issue and aims to ensure that the practice of hiring political appointees for the Bench is ended. This is a point Deputy Ross made strongly in his speech earlier. Members must root out the insiders. There are many people of high quality with legal expertise in this country, many of whom sadly are out of work at present. My point is that many young people are coming through the system who in the future would make excellent judges but this should be based on their ability, not on being a political hack, on hanging out with a Minister or dropping leaflets for a Government backbencher. Members are aware this is going on and Deputy Ross is 100% correct this regard. I have witnessed this myself over the 12 years in which I have been a Member of this House and, consequently, it is important to make this point.

Section 8 amends the number of candidates on the list that the board may provide. At present, the board must nominate a list of up to seven candidates, from which the Government is not obliged to choose, and this will be reduced to three candidates. Section 9 will enable the board to provide advice on the promotion of members of the Judiciary and section 10 obliges the Government to make public the reasons for appointing an individual to a position within the Judiciary. Again, I consider sections 8 to 10, inclusive, to be strong and decisive provisions in this legislation. However, the entire theme and ethos of the Bill is about reform of the system.

In conclusion, I welcome warmly the legislation and again commend Deputy Mac Lochlainn on his magnificent work on this legislation. I also commend my colleague, Deputy Ross, on his work on this issue in recent years. This legislation is about reform and change and hopefully, it will be about bringing back trust into the justice system in order that the public can trust the entire process in this State.

See this speech in context