Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

-----and we operate a system of justice where people are entitled to have accusations made against them determined and resolved within a reasonable period of time. The existing legislation does not allow for the appointment, as I understand it, of a substitute judge. The Senator may point out to me where I am mistaken. It provides for the possibility of the appointment of two military judges. We certainly do not need two and I do not want to hold a competition in circumstances in which the pool of eligibility is so small that we may not be able to identify individuals. It is not for me; the committee may not be able to identify individuals appropriate to appoint. This is not about doing an individual a favour. This is to do with reforming a piece of legislation enacted in 2007 which contained, as the Senator pointed out, a serious lacuna. This has been exposed by the difficulties that have arisen and just as I have sought to address it in this Bill, it could have been addressed before the end of last year by the previous Government. However, the previous Government was paralysed and failed to address it. It is not acceptable to me that this situation continues.

I have rejected the amendments proposed by the Senators because they will reduce the qualification criteria by moving from ten years to eight years and, in my view, this is completely inappropriate. To be very fair to Senator O'Donovan, without him realising it, from inquiries I have made, his proposed amendment could only benefit a very small number of people in extending eligibility. It is a readily identifiable very small number of people. I am willing to accept this is not the intention of the Senator's amendment and perhaps the Senator himself has been misled on that issue. I do not want to make any allegation of bad faith but I ask both Senators to look at what the legislation states as opposed to the assumptions they are making. I am informed that Senator Mullen became excited about this issue again on the Order of Business today. I suggest the Senators look at what the legislation-----