John Crown (Independent)

An article was published in The Sunday Times this week which highlighted the issue of apparent parliamentary interference in the appointment of members of the Judiciary. As Members are aware, I attempted several weeks ago, in the context of criminal trials, to introduce legislation which would have attempted to regularise any connections made between Members of Parliament and the Judiciary. It was, as they say, shot down in flames. I was told that a wall of separation existed between the Parliament and the Judiciary and that such legislation was an attempt to breach that. It would appear from this article that such a wall of separation truly is in ruins. It is very endemic to the culture of this country and to the culture of public life that representations were made. To preserve the integrity of the process and the good names of members of the Judiciary, who I am sure have acted in good faith at all times, we need to have a definite code of conduct which clearly states that such representations must never happen in future.

As documents were available on a limited number of individual cases, one or two people were highlighted, one of whom was the late Judge Miriam Reynolds. While I am very much in favour of ending the practice of any such interference being made, I would like, in the context of what was a good piece of journalism published by The Sunday Times, to state a couple of facts about the judge, who sadly died from cancer two years ago at a very young age. It will not be widely known that at the time Judge Reynolds presided over the horrific Roscommon incest case, she was on chemotherapy for cancer throughout her skeleton. She was a wonderful woman who behaved with great courage and fortitude, and great devotion to duty, when she could just have gone on disability.

The final case she took part in was one which coincided exactly with her final illness. She had to be persuaded by colleagues-----