Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is now my firm intention to present those amendments to this House and to provide for technical and consequential matters. This had been my intention in the first instance in the Dáil.

A most significant change in the Bill as passed by the Dáil is to provide for the membership of all four court presidents as well as the Chief Justice on the commission. That is somewhat different from the published Government position, which accommodated these officeholders but within a different committee arrangement. I fully accept that what we have now is an improvement in this regard. We have a good balance of judicial involvement and lay involvement along with the involvement of the Attorney General and specific input from the Bar Council and Law Society. I am very pleased that the Dáil accepted the new role for the Public Appointments Service in selecting the lay members and the lay chairperson based on the very important criteria set out in section 12. The inclusion in the membership, following amendment in the Dáil, of a nominee of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is positive.

The Government has consulted with the representatives of the judicial appointments review committee which is the senior Judiciary grouping tasked with making contributions to the change process. I have met the Chief Justice and all court presidents. It has to be said that very substantial and significant elements of the legislation are consistent with the views of the Judiciary. My predecessor, the former Taoiseach and Attorney General also met representatives of the Judiciary and listened carefully to their express opposition to aspects of the Bill and explained the Government’s policy position to them.

Of course, Senators will be fully aware that the Judiciary is opposed to having a majority of laypersons on the commission and a lay chairperson presiding over that commission. While I am grateful for the very substantial contribution senior members of the Judiciary have made in consultations, the Government does not agree with this and I am pleased that a lay chairperson is provided for, following the passing of the Bill by Dáil Éireann. The Government’s policy position is clear: the commission is proposed to have a lay chair and a lay majority but balanced by a very substantial judicial presence and by the presence of the Attorney General and the representatives of the legal professions. Every skill and brand of experience that will be necessary to continue and professionalise the selection of excellent judges will be represented with its own voice on this commission. There is little doubt that the experience, wisdom and expertise of the Chief Justice and other senior judges will, and should be, a first port of call in any deliberation of the commission.

Part 8 is important and breaks new ground. The commission, working through a procedures committee established under section 16, will have a remit to determine, in a consultative process, new procedures for judicial selection, and the skills and attributes required for the job. These procedures will reflect best-practice professional selection methods and processes. The procedures committee will be required to prepare a statement for approval by the commission, setting out the procedures for selecting persons for appointment and a statement of requisite skills and attributes that a person must possess to be suitable for selection.

Under Part 8, the committee will also have the ongoing role of reviewing the effectiveness of the selection system as well that of the functions assigned to the commission under the Bill. Two years after the commencement of the provisions, the committee will be required to prepare a report which may include any recommendation relating to the implementation of the Act. The commission will be required to submit the report and recommendations, together with any observations it may have, to the Minister. The work of the procedures committee will not, as has been suggested in some quarters, be the work of some over-elaborated or engorged element of bureaucracy, but will deliver to the new commission a simple and specialised mechanism to design modern selection processes into judicial selection. These will be processes and standards similar to those which are in play for all senior public appointments in Ireland and which are already in play in judicial selection processes in the neighbouring island and elsewhere.

The new system of appointments will be open and transparent, as illustrated by some examples from the Bill. The new commission chairperson will be accountable to an Oireachtas committee under section 22 for the general administration of the commission as envisaged in the Government programme. Under section 21, the director will be required to forward to the Committee of Public Accounts reports regarding the commission's accounting transactions and its economy and efficiency among other matters. The commission will be required to report annually to the Minister on its activities and the Minister shall have the reports laid before both Houses. The Minister will also have the power to request a report by the commission on any matter relating to its functions. Taken together, these elements amount to a progressive reform bringing the future appointments processes to a new level of accountability.

Each of the Houses of the Oireachtas must approve by resolution, if they so choose, an appointment by the Minister of the lay members and lay chairperson of the commission. Under section 49, the Minister will be required to make an annual statement to the Houses relating to appointments to judicial office made during the year. This will include a statement that the appointment was recommended under the new arrangements if that is the case. A similar statement will be required of the Minister in the form of a notice to be published in Iris Oifigiúilin respect of all appointments. I will be tabling amendments in respect of these provisions because, given legal advice I have received, I am concerned about the appropriateness of subsections 48(2) and 49(2) as amended on Committee Stage in the Dáil, concerning the explanation of decisions of Government with regard to appointments.

Section 7 focuses the recommendation and selection process on merit as the criterion to underpin the selection and recommendation of persons for appointment. It is an important statement of intent that merit is the basis on which all recommendations will be made. This means that merit is front and centre as the determining factor in selection and recommendation. Section 7 is also important in providing that subject to this criterion, regard shall be had to objectives that the membership of the Judiciary should comprise equal numbers of men and women, that membership of the Judiciary should to the extent feasible and practicable, reflect the diversity within the population as a whole and that the membership of the Judiciary should include persons with a proficiency in the Irish language. Let me point out once again that the Judiciary and others highlighted putting merit at the top of the agenda in their submission in 2014.

The Bill extends eligibility arrangements to District Court judges in terms of eligibility for appointment to the High Court and to legal academics for appointment. These matters are addressed in section 33. This has been welcomed virtually all round as has the other change under section 59 setting at 70 the retirement age for District Court judges which is the same as for judges of other courts.

I want to mention the important provisions in section 5 that the Minister shall review the working of the Act and report on the matter to the Houses of the Oireachtas. I assure Senators that this is a genuine and quite fundamental reform of our judicial appointments system so as to ensure to the greatest extent we can that the quality of our judicial system is maintained to the benefit of all in society.