Rónán Mullen (Independent)

It does not help the perception around our separation of powers when there is such an obvious link between political participation and appointment to the Judiciary, in particular. We need to debate that and other appointments to State agencies. The people are looking and they want to see whether Ireland is turning a corner in terms of new, better and more ethical practices. We should have a debate at an early stage about the way in which appointments are made and the Government needs to show it is getting away from the bad old culture of appointing friends. There should only be one criterion when it comes to making appointments of this kind and that is merit.