Lorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the notion of a body to choose judges, the lay chairperson and the lay majority. There is also the idea that it will somehow be better. There has been no convincing public policy explanation of the benefits of such an approach and we should not just reject expertise because the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport says so. It is ridiculous to think expertise is not needed in this regard. The Minister, Deputy Ross, has a particular issue with judges and likes to typecast them as villains. I would go as far as to say he casts a very low opinion of members of the legal profession of which I am a very proud member. Perhaps the Minister before us or the Minister, Deputy Ross, could address what they are doing to change the face of the legal profession and support and encourage people from various backgrounds into the legal profession. I am a proud working class girl from rural Ireland who was lucky enough to make it into the legal profession and got good support from various people throughout my legal career, as well as encouragement. I was very lucky and not many people from my kind of background would be as lucky in this day and age.