Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish, in the first instance, to respond to Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee. I acknowledge that amendments Nos. 15, 21, 25, 27, 28, 53, 57, 59, 61 and 63 are in my name. I will be moving amendment No. 15. Before I do so, I want to make a point on amendment No. 13, as proposed by Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee. It is, of course, entirely consistent with the approach taken by the Senator's colleagues in the Dáil. The amendment provides for a commission of 11 members. This equates to numbers currently on the Judicial Appointments Board. The breakdown in the amendment is five judicial members, including the Chief Justice and the four Presidents, two legal persons, being nominees of the Bar Council of Ireland and the Law Society of Ireland, and four laypersons, each nominated by a different named body. The commission would elect its own chairperson. There are good elements to the amendment. Not wishing in any way to surprise the Senator, I remind her that the amendment is completely at odds with the Government's approach which reflects Government policy in the most fundamental respect. The most positive element of the amendment is that it would secure the membership of all court Presidents, including the Chief Justice who is the favoured person of Senator David Norris.