Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is positive and I am delighted to hear that. I understood that he said he will consider amendment No. 7 for acceptance.In the spirit of being constructive, I am happy to withdraw the amendment and resubmit it on Report Stage.

I do not accept the terms of the amendment would tie the hands of the Public Appointments Service. I know in the other House my Labour Party colleagues, particularly Deputy Howlin, expressed some concern about the notion that the Public Appointments Service would be sufficiently well equipped to select from among members of the public the members of the commission that should select judges. We must be careful about the assumption that there is some objective notion of merit in this or in any other appointment. There is established literature about merit and what we describe as merit but my idea of merit might be very different from that of another person. We all bring with us invisible bias or what is often called in recruitment literature "affinity bias", where we are inclined to appoint people in our own shadow. That is why I disagreed with members of the Judiciary in the 2014 report described by the Minister, as they sought less political and more judicial input. We must be careful about achieving a balance so it is not just about members of the Judiciary simply appointing more of their own.

I am concerned about assuming that everyone has the same understanding of merit. It has been pretty well established that merit can mean very different things to different people. That is why an amendment like this is important, as it sets out the criteria guiding the Public Appointments Service in appointing both lay members of the commission and persons who apply for appointment to judicial office. It would make certain stipulations and provide certain safeguards to people, which is why we put it forward. It states explicitly what the Minister has already indicated is implicit in his proposals. It seeks to guard against any assumption about an objective measure of merit.

I am thoroughly in favour of section 62 and I very much welcome it, as I mentioned on Second Stage. This is the prohibition on canvassing. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties sought this years ago and it is a really important reform. It is one of the very positive aspects of this Bill referred to by the Minister in his response to amendment No. 7. In the spirit of being constructive, I will not call a vote on amendment No. 7 at this point but it is too important a principle not to come back on Report Stage. If the Minister does not return with an amendment in similar terms on Report Stage, I will press the amendment again at that point.