Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

He will do nothing. There are a few Independents in Dáil Éireann who would happily tog out to sustain the Government over the next year or so if Deputy Ross flounces off in a sense of disillusioned temper because this provision does not go through.

What is the particular advantage of having a majority of lay people on this commission? There is only one explanation, which is a sentiment of distrust. It is that lawyers, be they judges, practising lawyers or the anomaly of the human rights commission, left to their own devices would produce insider, unmerited and unrepresentative appointments. It is that their view of merit would be different from those who lie outside the area of having some basic knowledge of how the legal system works. For one, I believe strongly that this provision for a lay majority - having the origins I have made clear before the House - was not believed in by the man who has insisted on it. He said it was the biggest battle in negotiating the programme for Government and it took days and nights to do it. He did not believe in this solution at the time but rather in an alternative crazy world in which we would go down the American route.