John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution on the Bill. I wish to read a comment into the record:

The present plight of politics is the subject of constant and generalised comment, but comment on the legal profession, particularly the courts, is more careful, although no less cynical. Commentators are more fearful of the lawyers than the politicians. This is a very salient reality for those of us who believe that not just radical reform, but revolutionary reform, is needed across all the institutions of the State. Reform of politics and of the Oireachtas will be relatively easy compared to that of the legal profession which is the most entrenched and unaccountable power bloc in modern society... Getting accountability from the courts and the legal system will not be so easy. In any democracy, the judicial branch must be completely independent of the executive and legislative branches. Yet even judges must be accountable to somebody. Some unthinking people believe that these two propositions are irreconcilable.

This article goes on to refer to a judicial board under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice and the need to give the Chief Justice and the Presidents of the High, Circuit and District Courts a far greater role in relation to the standards obtaining in their courts. Some 17 years after it was written, we are repeating the same argument which was put forward by the late Jim Mitchell, former Deputy, in the year 2000. In the meantime, nothing has happened.

Therefore, I compliment the Minister, Deputy Shane Ross, on the stand he has taken for many years on this and many other issues. When he was a member of the Committee of Public Accounts, he was vocal on the need for change and reform and not afraid to question those who held power in Departments and hold them to account. I do not associate with and want to dissociate myself from the many who have passed personal comments on the stand the Minister has taken in that regard. This morning, I heard his speech made last night repeated. I must say he gave a good account of himself and the reforms in which he obviously and sincerely believes, but the Bill falls far short of what he wants. I suggest to him that he knows it and I am saying it to him directly out of respect. I firmly believe Fine Gael has no interest in the Bill. Judging from past comments by members of the party, dating back to even before 2000, it is quite clear that the Minister has a different point of view.

The system we are now trying to develop in the context of the Bill is one with which I agree. I like the conversation and debate on the issue. I believe it is necessary. However, as a Parliament, we are rushing into it and the legislation without thinking it out fully.

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