Seanad debates

Tuesday, 3 July 2018

Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed)

 

12:30 pm

Photo of Ivana BacikIvana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have a copy of what purports to be three pages of the GRECO report in my hand, and it seems to be very up to date. Paragraph 35 of it states that GRECO has significant concerns about the composition of an appointments commission as proposed in the judicial appointments Bill, as amended, on 31 May 2018, which would place judges in a clear minority position in favour of a strong lay representation, including the chairperson, accountable to Parliament and that this move is not in line with European standards which, in situations where final judicial appointments are taken by the Executive, calls for an independent authority drawn in substantial part from the Judiciary to be authorised to make recommendations or opinions prior to such appointments.

Paragraph 36 states that GRECO urges the authorities to reconsider this matter in order to limit potential risks of improper influence from the Executive or political power over the appointment process to the Judiciary, or any perception thereof, and to do so in close co-operation with the judicial authorities. It appears to be an up-to-date excerpt from an up-to-date report. I am happy to hand it to the Minister. We cannot say it is not relevant to Committee Stage. It is relevant to the amendments we are trying to draft to be helpful, and it should be relevant to the amendments the Government is drafting, and that we are supposed to be debating. It is not good enough to say it will be published at the earliest opportunity. Clearly, if newspapers have got hold of some of the report, and if there is a report out there, we should have got it, in advance at least of Committee Stage, so we could assist in drafting amendments. We would clearly have got a lot further in Committee Stage had we had sight of the GRECO report in advance of it. We are expected to finish Committee Stage apparently tomorrow night and go to Report Stage next week, only on the basis of a vague assurance that the report will be published as soon as possible, when we know the report is there and has expressed some very strong criticisms of a process which it says is not in line with European standards, as of 31 May 2018.

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