Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ultimately, I will obey the whip and vote for the Bill, but, in the context of a great deal of it, I will do so with a heavy heart because I feel it is an insult to the profession of which I am a proud member. I am still a practising solicitor and I find the Bill to be an insult to the legal profession. There is a lot of good in it but not in many respects, particularly when it comes to the idea it must be a non-legal chair. If it could be either that would be fine. There may well be a person who does not have legal qualifications who would be an excellent chair of any such commission but why should an individual who has a legal qualification and legal experience be excluded from chairing any such commission? That is something with which I struggle. I do not know who will come up with an answer on this one. It does not make any sense to me. We have all this talk of lay people and, unfortunately, "lay" is the word used in the legislation. Perhaps some people have chosen for it to be somehow negatively perceived. It is non-legal people. I have absolutely no difficulty with it. I am very disappointed about this aspect of the Bill. I would wish it could be addressed. I do not really have much that is positive to say, so sorry about that.