Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Will the Leader seek clarification from the Government regarding the judicial council? All of today's national newspapers report on the Government's plan for a three-person group to recommend the next Chief Justice. The current Chief Justice, Ms Susan Denham, will retire in the next month or so. She has consistently called for a judicial council during her time in the post. Lost in the great debate about the Judiciary, judicial appointments and the proposed commission has been the bigger issue, which is the judicial council. My first Private Members' motion related to the appointment of a council. The then Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, made a commitment to establish an independent council. She stated: "It is what the Judiciary want. It will deal with education, training, governance, compliance with governance, discipline and various appropriate issues relating to the Judiciary." Surely this has become lost in the wider debate about how judges should be appointed.It has got lost in the debate on who is to be a judge, whether decided by independent recommendation or otherwise. I do not want to dwell too much on that. Suffice it to say, the independence of the Judiciary is a central tenet to our democracy and is very important. When the then Chief Justice in 2000, Mr. Justice Ronan Keane, undertook to do a report to deal with the various issues, he made various recommendations. In 2010, Dermot Ahern, the then Minister for Justice, introduced a general scheme for a Bill for the judicial council. It was proposed that this judicial council would deal with excellence and the exercising of judges' judicial functions. It would ensure high standards of conduct among judges, it would deal with effective and efficient ways of use of judicial resources and it would continue ongoing training among the Judiciary.

I will wrap up by saying that in an article published in October 2016, which I again considered this morning, in the Law Society of Ireland Gazette, Chief Justice Susan Denham said the lack of action in establishing a judicial council was “a matter of real concern, both for the Judiciary and the State". As this Chief Justice leaves office, I think it appropriate and befitting that we highlight again her call for a judicial council and that the Government recommits itself, or at least say initially if it is still committed, to the introduction of a judicial council. This House, Seanad Éireann, passed a motion calling on the Government to do so. The Minister of the day gave a commitment that a Bill would be brought before the House within weeks. Nothing has happened. It is disappointing. Let us not lose sight of the objectives and the mission of a judicial council and what it sets out to do. Remember that it has the full support of the Judiciary. It has our support in this House, as we demonstrated last year. Let us have the Government come into this House after the recess and explain where this potential Bill is now.