Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Sometimes people think that the filling of judicial vacancies is a matter to convenience judges or lawyers, which it is not. It is required in order to ensure that citizens who appear before our courts, who are anxious to secure and seek justice, have an opportunity to have their rights vindicated. When there is an absence or shortage of judges and vacancies that have not been filled, it interferes with the constitutional rights of those citizens and the families of victims of crime to have their cases heard promptly. We are now in a situation where we have waited for six months for the appointment of appropriately qualified persons to the Court of Appeal and the High Court. There needs to be some level of urgency to the Government's deliberations on this matter. Where the process has gone through the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board and we are just waiting for Government nominations, it is crucial that the Government proceeds to make nominations to fill vacancies in the Judiciary rather than waiting to find out what will happen with the judicial appointments commission.

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