Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald. I thank her for coming in response to a suggestion I made that this debate should happen and I thank the Leader of the House for arranging for it.

The particular issue I was concerned about was the question of judicial appointments in view of media reports that a moratorium on the appointment of judges had been put in place at Cabinet level pending the passage of the legislation outlined in the programme for Government. I note what has been said here about the Fianna Fáil Bill. I have had an opportunity to look at Deputy Jim O'Callaghan's Bill and it seems to me that the principle of the Bill is preferable to that adumbrated in the programme for Government. I am deeply concerned that the model proposed in the programme for Government for an inexpert majority on the appointments commission will lead to poor rather than good results.

The principle in Deputy O'Callaghan's Bill is a better principle, which provides that the advice of people who know what they are talking about is made more focused and is available to the Executive. It strikes me that Senator Boyhan has been advancing the proposal to have the judicial council legislation brought forward and considered at an early date. The Minister will know it is a longstanding chestnut in her Department. I was recently interested to see judicial impatience at the progress. There was a time when the impatience was all in St. Stephen's Green and it was the Judiciary who were on the receiving end of correspondence from impatient Ministers.

It is important that our Judiciary has the relevant institutions to enable it to function to the best possible standard in the eyes of the public. There is no opposition to the idea of a judicial council any more, although there was at one point, so now is the time to get on with it. If Deputy O'Callaghan's Bill receives the favour of Dáil Éireann, where I presume it will be introduced, the Government should adopt it and get on with it rather than going through the process of developing its own model. Deputy O'Callaghan's Bill can be amended if it is the will of that House and this one, but it would be pointless to have two alternative views competing in the form of two separate Bills and to delay any action until the Government prepares its own Bill in this respect.

Reference has been made to the Garda pay issue. I do not want to put any further political pressure of any kind on the Minister. I understand completely the circumstances in which the Tánaiste finds herself. Everybody, including the Tánaiste, will agree with me that An Garda Síochána needs to be treated as a special case because its members carry out special functions and are deprived of certain rights which other people in the community enjoy in respect of negotiating their own wages and conditions. The idea of a two-tier wage structure within An Garda Síochána is unacceptable.

Right across Ireland, there are people who believe they are being policed by gardaí who live 50 or 60 miles away and who are driving to work and going home to wherever they leave. Will the Minister confirm whether or not the Garda Reserve, which could serve to establish local roots for An Garda Síochána in every community, will be expanded and its numbers increased? It is no threat to Garda status or pay but it would be a huge bonus for linking An Garda Síochána to the communities in a way they were in the past when it was common for the local sergeant to live above the station.