David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, said that reform does not imply that the present system has impaired the quality, diligence and integrity of the judicial function. He significantly failed to point to any single instance of judicially inappropriate appointment. That is a very significant fact, so there is no real reason for concern. The Minister also said that his approach is in accordance with the views of the Judiciary. I would not have thought so.

I welcome that there will be a nominee from the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission but I would be a lot more impressed if the suggestion I made some years ago that all legislation should be human rights proofed before it is passed by either House was taken up.

There are some aspects of the Bill that are good. For example, the promotion of academics of distinction to the Bench is a good idea. It is also stated in the Bill that people should be promoted on merit. It is unbelievable that people would find it necessary to include such a provision in legislation. The most noxious part of the Bill is section 16 (2), which states, "The Procedures Committee shall consist of 9 members of the Commission, the majority of whom shall be lay members and the chairperson of that Committee shall be such one of those lay members as the Commission determines." Section 16(5) states:

A committee established under subsection (4) shall consist of such and so many members of the Commission as may be determined by the Commission, the majority of whom shall be lay members and the chairperson of the committee shall be such one of those lay members as the Commission determines.

That is nonsense. Are we to have a situation where dentists, doctors, teachers, lawyers, lecturers and so on are to be dictated to by lay members? I agree with the appointment of lay members to the commission but to provide that they be in the majority is utterly preposterous. In the context of statements of the commission, section 54(1)(b) states that the commission make such modifications to either of them as it considers appropriate and approve them as so modified. How is that for democracy and accountability?

I regard this legislation as nonsense. It is plain that it was introduced at the behest of one Minister. There is also a funny deal going on with Sinn Féin, but that is its business. Politics is all about deals. There is no doubting that this is a fact. We have the absurd situation whereby this highly undemocratic process is forcing unnecessary change into the legal system in a manner which guarantees lay majority, lay chairpersons and so on in a profession. Do we trust our judges? I do. I have been critical of some of them and I believe that in some cases idiotic judgments have been made. However, that is the nature of things. One simply needs to proceed and continue to argue until one wins. I will be opposing this Bill, which is a noxious piece of nonsense.