Results 3,041-3,060 of 5,757 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: We have two fairly immovable objects here confronting one another. I ask the Minister to think about where we are going here. This Bill is not going to fundamentally change the way we appoint judges because, as the Minister has admitted himself, the Constitution cannot be trumped by the Bill. I do not know why we are pushing the legislation through if we really wanted to change the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I will stick to the amendment. I will leave it at that and I will be interested in the reply by the Minister. Perhaps my colleague, Senator McDowell, might have more to say.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: It was merely analogous.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I want to go back to the issue of the period of time involved. I disagree with the Senator's suggestion that it can be done in a shorter period.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister has sat on interview boards in his capacity as a public representative, and on VECs and other boards, and he will know that the first thing a board has to do is sit down and agree the advertisement. In this Bill, we are dealing with the top legal minds in the country so we have to be very careful that every "i" is dotted and every "t" crossed so that the advertisement does...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: A board the size of the JAAB needs to agree to hold interviews on a particular date and the Minister knows that getting an agreed date is always a problem. Some candidates are not available on the appointed day and a second date has to be set up and this is why I believe Senator McDowell is being optimistic. It could take as many as four months to make just one appointment and if there is a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: This is going to cause mayhem. I saw junior people in the public service appointed to senior positions, leading to the suspicion that it was to avoid the trickle-down effect of which Senator McDowell speaks, and to avoid having to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal or the High Court by appointing somebody from the academic world. The next thing that happens is that the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I totally accept the Minister's bona fides here and that he truly believes what he says. However, that will not matter the moment this Bill is passed into law because it will no longer be within his gift to control how this legislation is used by the commission. It will no longer be within his gift to tell the commission what to do or to prescribe how long it should wait after advertising a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: How badly have we been served by our Judiciary over the years that there is such a need to bring in such desperately flawed legislation? Why are we doing this? What purpose are we serving? At least the amendment would allow for the fact that there may be a trickle down effect. The Minister does not envisage that happening, but how can he guarantee in the legislation that there will never...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: It is fully transparent.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: Queried.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: On the point Senator McDowell made-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I understand the Minister's frustration but currently in any public service or private sector job in respect of which a panel is established for interviews, unsuccessful candidates are given the opportunity to meet again with the panel to discuss where they went wrong. Senator McDowell spoke about a judge or a person who puts himself or herself forward for a judicial appointment and is...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I asked how the Minister could guarantee there would not be a trickle-down delay. If he cannot do that, the argument he makes is flawed. It is as simple as that and he must accept the points I make.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister has just agreed with my comment from approximately half an hour ago, which is that he cannot prescribe how the board or the commission would do its work. He cannot do so and therefore he cannot guarantee that if the Bill passes into law, the scenario outlined by Senator McDowell and me, irrespective of the period-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister has played on the periods I outlined earlier.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: What will we do then? Will we accept that in the Minister's view, this cannot happen and, ergo, we must believe it will not happen, so we will ignore it and move on? Is that what the Acting Chairman is asking me to do?

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I am not comfortable pushing this to a vote until I am 100% certain I know where the Minister stands. I am not certain at this time.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister has stated his belief and he is expecting me and anybody opposed to that belief to accept his word.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I specifically refer to this matter.