Results 8,481-8,500 of 15,389 for speaker:Helen McEntee

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Crime Prevention (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: As the Deputy will be aware, the Central Statistics Office publishes reported crime figures under reservation on a quarterly basis, currently available up to Q4 2021. A brief synopsis of trends indicates the reduction in incident levels that were seen during 2020 and 2021, whilst COVID-19 restrictions were in place, have seen a consequential increase as society returns to normal...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 2: In page 11, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “ “TFEU” means the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;”. The amendments are mainly technical. I will go through them as quickly as I can. Amendment No. 2 inserts a new definition in the section. This is the interpretation section, which sets out the...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: Amendments Nos. 4 and 9 propose to completely remove the English language title of the commission and the office from the Bill. Given the fact that the Bill is entirely in English, it would be out of step with the Bill as presented in the English language. As to section 8, the amendment refers to the name of the commission in the Irish language only. The section Deputy is referring to in...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The challenge with regard to amendment No. 5, where we are talking about the nine members of the council, four of whom are lay members and four Judiciary, with the Attorney General as a non-voting member, is that there are three ex officiomembers - the Attorney General, the Chief Justice, and the President of the Court of Appeal, and these alternate depending on which judge is appointed to...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: My concerns are the same as in the previous areas. I do not think the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin's, Bill would apply to this, separate to the fact it is not commenced. I would have the same concerns if that had been the case. While there is the requirement for balance between gender, diversity and the Irish language, we have tried to set it out such that somebody is appointed based...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: My concern is it is an essential skill, rather than a desirable one. You would not preclude anyone from applying but, by making sure they had to have Irish, you are potentially excluding many people by making it mandatory.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The two-year review will look at the judges appointed and the requirement around diversity, gender and Irish language. The specifics around the establishment of the commission dealing directly with the Minister, Deputy Martin's, Bill is for a date after that is commenced. It will look at things after that is commenced.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: Is the intention of the reference in amendment No. 12 to the commission conforming to these objectives with regard to all three names? The intention is that the applicants are based on merit but they would have to include somebody with a proficiency in the Irish language and somebody with a diverse background and alternate between male and female each time. This is very specific,...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment 15 In page 28, to delete lines 21 to 25 and substitute the following: "(f) in the case of a nomination for appointment to be a judge of the Court of Justice, an Advocate General of the Court of Justice or a judge of the General Court, he or she is qualified for appointment in accordance with the requirements of the TFEU,".

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: My understanding of the amendments is that there is no reference to removing the Attorney General in either of them. The Attorney General advises the Government but is not a member of the Government. The 1995 Act puts in place a specific recommendation that Attorneys General applying to the JAAB must recuse themselves from any involvement in the overall process. This would absolutely apply...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: Section 46 deals with interviews only but the addition of “has completed any other selection process” seems to have been taken from section 50, which works on its own. The intention is to make sure that everybody not just goes through interview but comes through the selection process. If we look at the functions of the commission, section 10 states: “The general...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I take this opportunity to raise with the committee my intention to consider one or two aspects of the interview requirement which may need an amendment later. The way we had worded it potentially suggests that all members of the commission must interview every person. As that is not the intention, we need to look at whether we will be prescriptive as to who needs to interview or how many...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: To group the amendments together, the only democratic input that there will be in this whole process after the change is essentially the decision to choose one of the three, and that is based on the fact that under the Constitution, the Government must retain the power to make a decision. If candidates are given a ranking of one, two or three, that obviously takes away any democratic...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: The whole point of the Bill is to amend the procedures that we have and to make sure that anybody who comes forward is suitable for the job and, first and foremost, that it is based on merit. Therefore, all three will now come based on merit and suitable for that particular role in whichever court, and all three will be capable of carrying out that job. Obviously, there is a provision here...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 24: In page 37, lines 37 and 38, to delete all words from and including "The" in line 37 down to and including line 38 and substitute the following: "The Commission shall provide the Minister, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs in so far as it relates to the judicial office of judge of the European Court of Human Rights or the International Criminal Court, with a...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 25: In page 39, to delete lines 2 to 5 and substitute the following: "(ii) in the case of the judicial offices of judge of the Court of Justice, Advocate General of the Court of Justice or judge of the General Court— (I) the requirements of the TFEU, and (II) the criteria used by the panel, established under Article 255 of the TFEU, to assess candidates'...

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 26: In page 42, to delete lines 32 to 34 and substitute the following: "(i) the judicial offices of judge of the Court of Justice, Advocate General of the Court of Justice or judge of the General Court, any requirements of the TFEU concerning the procedures for selection of candidates for those judicial offices,".

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 May 2022)

Helen McEntee: I move amendment No. 27: In page 43, to delete lines 31 to 35 and substitute the following: "(iii) the effectiveness of the procedures, set out in the statement of selection procedures, in achieving the objectives set out in section 39(2) in relation to membership of the judiciary in each court,".