Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will make a short contribution to this Bill. I welcome the opportunity to make a brief comment on it.

I have to say at the outset, I agree with Deputy Fitzmaurice that this is a rushed scenario. It is an issue for many Deputies as to why this matter needed to be rushed through so quickly. I make this quite clear because I have been picking up comments outside over the past few days and I am a little concerned at comments that Fianna Fáil does not want change or some changes. We want change but we want it done in the right way and we want time and space given to reform. It is somewhat misleading to have a charge out there that Fianna Fáil does not want change. The fact is that, in October 2016, we published a Bill which was totally committed to achieving reform in this area. I believe genuinely, as my party colleagues do, that some change is needed in this scenario in order that people have full confidence in the system.

It is important to state that the judicial system as a whole has been really good and in a European context is often referred to for its equity and fairness. While now and again one might have reservations about some judgments or whatever, generally we have a good system of justice.

As for political connections, I hold the view that everybody in Ireland has a political connection. Everybody in this country believes in this or that. They believe in a party or some other party, or they believe in Independents. I never buy into this argument about political connections. It is overplayed. I acknowledge that down through the years, those who perhaps were close to one political party or another were appointed to positions but when one looks at the overall administration of justice in the country, the vast majority of those appointed carried out their work diligently, equitably and fairly. Whatever concerns some, including the Minister, might have about political appointments and why we need transparency, the way justice has been handed out by the Judiciary over the years has been good in general.

It is true to say some have political connections and one could say they are at an advantage if their names are on the list which goes to the Cabinet, while it is often said that canvassing should be prohibited. Many who are appointed because of political connections, as I have already stated, will turn out to be excellent judges. We should not have a system whereby a person should be excluded from subsequent nomination to judicial office because he or she was involved in politics. We should face this question head on. Why should they be excluded more than anybody else? What we do not know is if there are good candidates who apply to be judges and who, because they did not know anybody in Cabinet or any Deputy, were overlooked and never got the opportunity of being promoted to the position of judge.

For all of those reasons, the system needs to be changed. We need a recommending body that can identify who it believes will be the best person for the position of judge. We should have a recommending body that ranks individuals in terms of their suitability for that job.

Under the Constitution, which is appropriate, the Government has the final say. One should remember this all is well laid out in the Constitution. Regardless of the system in place or how it operates, the Government can disregard the list of candidates provided by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board and appoint a candidate of its choosing. That is the scheme that currently operates under the Constitution. However, it need to be changed and broadened to ensure that it is fairer and that the best - there may be persons who we do not know and who do not have connections - have an opportunity to be considered and appointed.

I remind Members that the Fianna Fáil Bill was published in October 2016. I stress that point because of what I hear from some of the public that Fianna Fáil does not want change. We were advocating change as far back as October last. That Fianna Fáil Bill sought to establish a judicial appointments commission to recommend to the Government the names of the individuals who it believes would be the most suitable to be judges based on merit. For each position, it would recommend three persons.

I will conclude because Deputy Ó Cuív has a major contribution to make, as have Deputies Kelleher and Thomas Byrne.

Welcome back to quango land, the quango land to which the Minister and the Government were so vehemently opposed. They are right that there have been too many quangos but here comes quango number one under the new system. How much is it going to cost? It is estimated this will cost €1 million to start off and as all will be aware, that cost of €1 million will quickly rise to €2 million and €3 million. In my view and that of my party, it is necessary and important to point out to the public that there will be a significant and unnecessary wastage of public money on what has been proposed here.

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