Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Amendment No. 1 changes the manner in which alternate members of the committee established for the purpose of selecting an officer to be a director of military prosecutions are appointed. The committee consists of the Chief of Staff, a High Court judge and the Director of Public Prosecutions. Alternative members of the committee would be required if either the judge of the High Court nominated by the President of the High Court or the DPP signalled their unwillingness or inability to act for any period as a member of the committee.

The existing provisions of the Bill in this regard were the subject of an observation by the Irish Human Rights Commission in its report which was received on 1 March 2007. Having considered the observation, I decided to remove any suggestion that there could be a political element to the decision-making process.

Amendment No. 1 has the effect that if the nominated judge of the High Court is unavailable, the President of the High Court may nominate another judge in his or her place. In addition, if the DPP is unavailable, the Minister may, after consulting with the Attorney General, appoint either a practising barrister nominated by the Bar Council or a practising solicitor nominated by the Law Society.