Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on the Bill. It is very loose and very weak and, unfortunately, it is not doing what it says on the tin or what it was meant to say on the tin. The Minister needs to get that opener for the tin and open it, because we know what happens to the fruit inside if it is left too long - it goes out of date. We are stale.

Mention was made of a former Minister for Transport, Shane Ross, who I fought with tirelessly with regard to rural issues. However, I supported him with regard to the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board Bill that he was trying to bring forward. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan mentioned that political shenanigans in the last Government stopped it. There was no appetite for it. The former Minister did his best and I salute him for the large amount of work he put into it. He wrote about it before he came into the House and he made promises to people. He did his best and more than his best, but it was not to be because of the political masters of the day, unfortunately, with no disrespect to the Minister of State, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle or anyone else who has served at the Bar, as a solicitor or at legal level, and there are a lot of good people. However, there is a huge job in shifting the balance from across the river to here. Power is meant to lie here and, unfortunately, it is across the river that the power seems to rest. Goodness, we have seen that in many cases, most recently with the so-called and very poorly named "golfgate", when there was a lot of media and it was a circus really, but that was a superficial war dance. There are a lot of serious issues and many families are very hurt by the justice system in this country, which has not served us well.

The joint committee’s report set out ten recommendations in regard to the Bill. A number of changes have been made to the general scheme following the pre-legislative scrutiny process and subsequent recommendations of the joint committee. However, certain concerns remain regarding the role of the Attorney General and the fact the recommended candidates are not ranked in order of merit. The system is going to pick the three candidates and send those three candidates forward to the so-called commission, but there is no ranking, so it is going to give the Minister of the day the political choice that he or she wants. That is what it is and that is what is going to happen.

Three names will go up.

I have some experience of discussing these issues with Ministers for Justice. I was involved in a strange court case following which I was cleared by a jury of my peers in County Tipperary, thankfully, after spending a long time in the court. I thank the jury and all the legal people who were involved. I met the then Minister and was very frustrated. This happened after the court case, not before it. I was told that Minister had not appointed the judge but had received a bit of paper from the then Taoiseach to tell him to appoint the person. That is the way it works. It stinks to high heaven and has done for a long time. The system must be cleaned out and it is wrong. I could highlight countless cases from counties Tipperary and Waterford in which justice was not served for ordinary citizens by a long shot.

Deputy Michael Collins mentioned the former Master of the High Court, Mr. Edmund Honohan, who offered a briefing to any Member who wanted to attend it on Tuesday evening last. He gave us a wonderful briefing and he gave us a great help. In fact, he drafted our Impaired Farm Credit Bill. Deputy McGuinness, Senator Norris and other Members did their best in this area previously. Anybody who stood before this very humble, decent, upright and respectful man of the people, whom the justice system is meant to serve, in his chambers was treated with dignity, respect, the utmost decorum and fairness and was made to feel human. I have attended many court cases along with distraught families. The system in many courts is not very humane, and it got even less humane earlier in the Covid pandemic. Justice delayed is justice denied. People were locked out of court cases. Businessmen and farm families throughout the country have been put through nothing short of a torture chamber, and some members of the Judiciary have no halos above their heads after what they did. We have seen this before, where massive sums have been written off by banks for certain individuals, and they have then sat on a case instead of recusing themselves because they have a vested interest in the form of an investment with the bank. That would not happen under Putin, as awful as that man is.

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