Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Since her appointment, she has spent a great deal of time here. She is welcome and she has a great regard for the Seanad, given that she was a former leader of the Opposition.

The Bill, which is straightforward, will give effect to what the people decided in the referendum on a court of appeal. The legislation will bring our legal structures into line with best international practice. A court of appeal should have been set up years ago. The Supreme Court is logjammed with appeals, many of which are not suitable to be heard by it. It is the court of final appeal, but in most countries the supreme court deals with issues of constitutional importance, where a judge believes it is sufficiently in the national interest that they be heard by the highest court in the land. Unfortunately, many of the cases referred to our Supreme Court, for one reason or another, do not relate to issues of national importance that could have a fundamental effect on the lives of citizens. However, they are important for the individuals involved. The court of appeal will provide a structure similar to that in many other jurisdictions. The Minister said the legislation provided for significant tidying up to ensure our legal structures are fit for purpose, particularly in the High and Supreme Courts. This is long overdue and it is welcome.

She also referred to the review of the judicial appointments process that was announced last week in the Dáil. When judges are appointed to the court of appeal, I presume the review will not be complete, given that the timeframe for the review process is a number of months. Will she clarify that?

I agree with much of Senator Walsh's contribution. There is a merit in a register of interests for the Judiciary.

A register of interest for Oireachtas Members is publicly available. While a register of interest for judges need not necessarily be publicly available, it might be available to certain individuals in order to ensure there are no conflicts of interest when they hear cases. Perhaps there might be room in the regulations to do it in the future.

I have a certain sympathy with Senator Walsh's point about the legal profession playing its part in the economic downturn. While they are not all responsible, a certain element were signing off on ten mortgages on one property. Much cleaning up has already happened.

In the past three or four weeks I raised the issue of e-conveyancing, and the justice committee had a very interesting hearing on it during which the Law Society of Ireland outlined the benefits of e-conveyancing whereby the conveyancing of a property would be done in seven days rather than seven weeks and there would be effective checks and balances and cross referencing. It would be moving with the times. Given that seven of the top ten IT companies have their headquarters here, we should embrace ICT at the highest and best level to ensure the integrity of our administrative processes.

All we are doing here is giving effect to something in favour of which over 65% of voters approved. We have no role here, apart from implementing the will of the people. I thank Members from the various groupings for agreeing to do all Stages of this legislation this evening. It is appropriate that we do not delay the passage of this important piece of legislation.