Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I was interested in what the Minister's response would be. My experience is that senior practitioners of the law are appointed as Attorney General. They play a pivotal role in advising Government and they are the chief legal adviser to the Government.

It gives an extraordinary experience to somebody, no matter how senior he or she is in practising law at the Bar, to actually sit around the Cabinet table and run an entire Department, which is the Office of the Attorney General. It seems to me there would be an extra qualification in having done that. There probably would be a disincentive for people who might see themselves having practised at the Bar from applying for a judicial role or even accepting appointment to the role of Attorney General if they thought at the end of it there would be a period where they would first have to re-establish a legal practice, having given it up to serve as Attorney General, and then start a process after two years to apply for a judicial position. I would be minded to accept the Minister’s position on this.

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