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

I was slightly unsure as to whether I should be asking the Minister for Justice and Equality questions about judicial matters because it appears the Government has transferred all responsibility for judicial issues over to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and its Minister. Yesterday we had the extraordinary spectacle of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on the national airwaves, giving a rolling interview not in respect of CIE or Irish Rail, but in respect of his call for a judicial council. Everyone is in favour of the establishment of a judicial council yet the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport made it sound like this was some great new reforming idea he had come up with. The judges are looking for it, Fianna Fáil is looking for it and everyone in this House is looking for it.

What we should not allow to pass is that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, on behalf of the Government, goes out into the public domain and tells the public at large that some judges may need to be reminded of their oath. I would like the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, to clarify for the Irish public that it is not the view of the Government that members of the Judiciary need to be reminded of their oath. They take their oath very seriously. The hidden message from the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport was that we cannot trust a lot of these people and that is why we need to regulate them on a statutory basis.

See this speech in context