Seanad debates

Wednesday, 4 July 2018

Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed)

 

10:30 am

Photo of Michael McDowellMichael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I stand corrected. It held its meetings at the Grand Hotel in Malahide.

It is not intended that the commission should mould the Judiciary in one way or the other as to outcomes in individual cases or outcomes of philosophy or whatever. This goes back to the point I made earlier, namely, that a person's political opinions can be hugely important when the Cabinet has to decide as to whether to choose me or Senator Norris to be a member of the Supreme Court. It is important that the Cabinet is entitled to make a judgment on those issues. It is equally important that these cannot be delegated to some people outside the Cabinet and they cannot be encouraged to second-guess what the Government should or should not do under its constitutional obligation.

Who do we really envisage will want to be appointed, through the Public Appointments Commission, to the judicial appointments commission? What kind of person do we think will do this? We do not know how much they will be paid. We do not know whether they will be remunerated at all, except for expenses per diemfor attending meetings of the commission, committee meetings, interviews and the like. What kind of persons are actually going to put in applications to the Public Appointments Commission for appointment to the commission? Will they be frustrated non-lawyers? Are they going be social radicals or conservative activists? Will they be people who will conceal their fundamental outlooks with a view to hoping to influence who will or will not be appointed to the Judiciary?

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