Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will make two points by way of reply. For the benefit of Deputies Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, the role of the Minister will be to call the group together. Under no circumstances will the Minister sit on the committee, participate in it or be in a position to exercise any influence over it. The Minister will be at arm's length from the deliberations of the committee. The role of the Minister will be to convene the three-person committee in order to facilitate the filling of the vacancy. If Deputy Wallace reads the amendment, he will see that it is a three-person committee rather than a four-person committee. Nobody other than the three named persons will have a role. Neither the Minister nor any other fourth party will have a role. This process has been in place for the past 12 months. It has not involved any engagement on the part of the Minister or any other political figure in the course of making a recommendation to the Government.

I would like to make my second point in response to the perception that what we are putting in place to deal with the appointment of the three most senior judicial figures - the Chief Justice, the president of the Court of Appeal and the president of the High Court - amounts to the creation of a two-tier system. To ensure these positions attract the most senior judicial figures for consideration, we have deemed it appropriate to provide for them to be filled by means of expressions of interest rather than by means of the more general application process that will lead to the appointment of other ordinary members of the courts.

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