Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In our engagement we all tried to put together better legislation. We all agreed in our own way that we wanted the Presidents of the Circuit Court and the District Court to be involved and on Committee Stage grappled with the different ways of doing this. The amendments in this group are a tidying-up exercise to deal with leftover references to the relevant committees - the Government's original way of getting the two boys in without making the committee too unwieldy. However, in the spirit of the deliberations, we put back in the Presidents of the Circuit Court and the District Court, while also respecting the wishes of the committee to keep the Attorney General out because it would have given him two bites at the cherry and meant too much political influence.

The Government has tabled an amendment to increase the size of the committee to 17 to bring back the Attorney General, with the two Presidents. On the other hand, our amendments have been ruled out of order. If our amendments which seek to have a 14-person committee, including the Presidents of the Circuit Court and the District Court, were to be passed, we would save the Exchequer money, in comparison to the Government's option of having a 17-person committee, as the Minister is proposing today. I do not accept that our amendments should have been ruled out and agree with the points made by Deputy Wallace. Whether there is a lay majority is not the most decisive issue for us. The debate was always about removing political interference from the process. I also believe the manner in which we are handling this issue is an insult to the Judiciary and that it will go down very poorly in the history books.

The incredibly speedy manner in which the legislation has come back from the committee for Report Stage is a little odd, given the complexity of the issues raised as a result of the changes made in full engagement by the committee. As every vacancy in the next ten years has probably been filled, there is no urgency. The Department of Justice and Equality was charged with the responsibility of dealing with many other urgent items of legislation. The Coroners (Amendment) Bill was a priority for the Department, the Minister and his predecessor, Deputy Fitzgerald, who met us and senior officials this time last year to discuss advancing it through all Stages before the summer in order to provide for mandatory inquests in cases of maternal death. The Minister and the Taoiseach assured me that the Department would bring forward the legislation in February and March, but it is now May and it is not even listed. We are again heading towards summer without it, which is why a lot of people have come to the conclusion that we talk a lot here but do not deliver. We have a responsibility to call Departments to account, but in doing this in the interests of political expediency we are not treating the legislation with the seriousness it merits. It is indecent, very wrong and regrettable.

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