Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree that there is something utterly demoralising about having to be here today and the manner in which this incredibly important issue is being dealt with by the Government. The judicial appointments process is in need of radical reform. We, as legislators, have a job to do which we take very seriously. Bringing forward legislation requires a hell of a lot of work in our offices at all stages. It should be done in the interests of the common good, not political expediency. I take no pleasure in saying the manner in which the Bill is being handled and the presence of the Minister for Transport Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, show that this is a politically expedient measure, which is not a good way to produce legislation.

There is irony in the fact that the Government has probably created records in the history of the State in the political appointment of judges. About a year ago we were reminded that appointments would only take place over the dead body of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, but here he is, despite the fact that so many have been made in the meantime. Clearly, there is not enough work to be done in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, even though there is a lot to be done in respect of Dublin Airport in my constituency. I wish somebody was doing it.

We have put in a huge amount of work into the Bill and agree that there is a need for radical reform. However, a couple of things really get my back up. First, the intervention of the Attorney General after Committee Stage was a disgrace and I have no problem in saying so. The committee had put in hours of work. I had the misfortune to sit in at a different committee this morning and, given the way that committee conducted its business, the Government should be incredibly grateful for the hard work and diligence of Opposition members of the justice committee which are without parallel in this Dáil. The Attorney General said we had made a dog's dinner of the Bill, but if he had listened to a fraction of the arguments that had been made in the committee's deliberations, he would have known precisely that the Bill had been a mess from the start.

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