Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Regarding the appointment of judges, this decision, from what I can gather, was made previously by Governments. I happen to agree fully with Deputy Barrett. He is an experienced politician and what he had to say certainly warrants full listening to. I was interested to hear it.

I had this discussion with the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Sport many months ago when he was doing what a Minister should do, namely, looking for support for this Bill. However, the issue I could not understand was that at present, according to the system we have in place, the Government of the day makes the decision in appointing the Judiciary.

From what I can gather, in future the decision will be made a new commission established by the Government. I do not see much difference in where we are going. The Government of the day will appoint a group of people to make that decision but the Government of the day would have had to make the decision in any event. One might assume that the group will be made up in the way that the Government of the day will wish it to be made up and will make whatever decision that Government wished to make in the first instance. My view is that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is trying to make himself look good, as though he has done something with this Bill. He is codding the people. He might fool some of the people some of the time but he will not fool all of the people all of the time.

On appointments to positions on boards, even in the context of the Road Traffic Bill, I heard the Minister speak of appointments of someone from a certain sector to the Road Safety Authority, RSA. I questioned that and got no answer as to who appointed that person. He is the same Minister who tells us that politicians should not appoint people to boards but it looks as though he has done just that. Maybe he should clarify the position but that is something for down the road. I am very concerned that this would be taken away from the Government and the political system. We are elected by the people, as Deputy Barrett observed. Surely to God we are strong enough to make that decision for the greater good of the country and not be setting out another layer of complication in respect of this issue.

It looks as though it is a done deal and that it is part of a Government agreement that this must be pushed through. I would be concerned if that were the case. I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this tonight. My views are on the same lines as those of Deputy Barrett. I appreciate his comments because they come from an experienced politician.

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