Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 26, between lines 30 and 31, to insert the following: “(i) in the case of all offices specified underparagraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e),(f), (g), or(h), he or she has not held the office of Attorney General for a period of two years prior to their application under section 43.”.

This is a very simple little amendment in respect of the Attorney General's role in all of this. There have been issues in the past with regard to that. We feel that the amendment is appropriate because it provides that an appointee to the Judiciary cannot have held the office of Attorney General for at least two years prior to that appointment. It is appropriate that there would be that cooling-off period. The Attorney General is one of the central judicial offices in the land. It would be appropriate that he or she would be out of office for a period before he or she could be appointed to the Judiciary. It is fair and balanced and would allay public concerns in regard to that. In the past, regardless of how good a judge the Tánaiste thought he would make, I do not think it was a good idea to be appointing Attorneys General as judges immediately after their vacation of that post. This amendment would take care of that and would create a balance that is absent from the legislation.

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