Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is instructive to have an insight from someone who has served as Attorney General on JAAB. Senator McDowell brings that experience, which none of us have, to bear and it is useful to hear him speak of the presumed rationale behind the reinsertion of the Attorney General onto the new commission. I simply observed that it seemed somewhat anomalous that the Attorney General remains on the newly constituted commission under section 10 whereas the other changes are in keeping with a rather different perspective on reform. It just seemed to be yet another anomaly, alongside the anomaly relating to the numbers on the commission.

I will address another point that I should have made when I first discussed amendment No. 14, which was made by the Minister about the criteria for deciding who to put forward. We have taken some of the Minister's own provisions in section 12(6) regarding the matters that lay persons should have knowledge of, including matters connected with the administration of justice and so on. My list is somewhat more inclusive in that it also includes the needs of consumers of legal services. It is anomalous that that would not be included among the requisite criteria for those to be appointed as lay persons. It is important that knowledge of provision of supports to persons who are victims of crime be included. We have included it and it is also in the Minister's list. Perhaps "for users of services provided by the courts" might be as close as it gets but I am not sure that it is quite the same.

Our amendment refers to the persons who would be the non-judicial members nominated for appointment by the different bodies. The reason those bodies, such as Citizens' Information Board, Competition Consumer and Protection Commission and so on, are included is that one would expect their nominees to have the experience or knowledge of matters that are specified under section 12. It is a more focused way, perhaps, of ensuring the same expertise or experience among the lay members of the commission. I see the same approach is taken in Senator Clifford-Lee's amendment No. 13. We are seeking to do something similar but in a more focused and directed way.