Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I shall not repeat what everyone else has said, although it has all been very valid. I welcome the Minister and I welcome this legislation. The very first thing I did when I came into the House was to propose a motion under Private Members' business, which was passed by this House, when the Tánaiste, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, was the Minister for Justice and Equality. The motion was broadly welcomed. It was suggested that in December 2016 it would come back to the House. It has been a long time coming and I welcome that. I note in particular the tone in the Minister's speech in the House today. It is clear that he has taken a fresh look at it. The Minister referred to that in his statement.

I have listened to Senator McDowell's contribution and I am interested in the area of the register of interests for the Judiciary. I note the Minister's comments in this respect. We have to tread carefully but I believe there is a case for instilling confidence and there is a desire by people that we have some greater understanding of the process. I am aware that it must be careful. We need to encourage people into this profession. The Minister has made the point that this legislation has to be balanced. This is very important. In his final comments the Minister said that he believes the Bill, "achieves the requisite balance between independence and accountability". That is a really important balance. Personally, I would favour some sort of register of interests for the Judiciary. As politicians we have to complete registers of interests in respect of our work and we are all pretty familiar with that. Local government practitioners, councillors and all sorts of professions now have registers of interest. We must guard carefully what it is about. Senator McDowell raised the valid point about a register of debts of people in the profession. Independence is important.

Maeve O'Rourke was in the House when my colleague across the House discussed the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Bill. The Government opposed an amendment to that Bill that I had tabled, and which was agreed by this House. It was opposed in the Dáil. The amendment proposed a provision for mandatory reporting around the training of the Judiciary, especially in the areas of victims of crime. Perhaps the Minister might take that on board as part of the process.

On balance I believe the Bill to be fair and it is welcome. It is an area that people want to understand. They want to see that the Judiciary is treated like any other profession with a regime regarding conduct. It is welcome legislation.

I am aware that we will have a further Stage on which to table amendments but I particularly welcome the clear set of rules being proposed around the conduct of the Judiciary and the issue of pecuniary interests. It is a balanced Bill. I am not saying that it is open season. We may look at other models and there may be a private register that could be inspected. These are all sensitive issues but they should be addressed.