Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Minister for introducing the amendments. As he will be aware, the honourable Mrs. Justice Susan Denham of the Supreme Court has publically called for more specialist judges to be appointed to alleviate the burden on the wider Judiciary. I appreciate that he could have gone down the road of taking staff from the existing pool. The commercial court judge, Mr. Justice Peter Kelly, is proof that appointing a specialist judge with a particular focus means that business will be dealt with efficiently and quickly. I assume that the same will happen with this provision. From that point of view I welcome the amendments and the new sections.

I am a little bemused by some of the amendments. Perhaps the Minister will clarify what is meant by amendment No. 174 which states: "The following judges shall be addressed in such manner as may be determined by the rules to be made under this Part." How will they be addressed in the courts? Will a particular term be used such as "the honourable", the "very honourable" or whatever? Can he clarify if the specialist judges will be permitted to operate in another judicial sphere other than on personal insolvency cases? I got the impression from the proposed new sections that they will be confined and exclusive to the personal insolvency courts even though they will be shifted around the circuit.