Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

For that, we could get numerous Garda stations.

The report states that the Government's proposal goes beyond that and according to the information submitted to GRECO, such a commission must consist of a strong majority of non-judicial members - ten members - and be chaired by a non-judicial member, all accountable to Parliament. It refers to such a commission replacing the Judicial Appointments Advisory Authority, which as I said is saving the taxpayer money rather than the system we are about to put in place.

The significant concern about the composition of the appointments commission as proposed by the Bill - this was being spoken about on 31 May 2018 - would put the judges in a minority position and the lay representation, including the chair, in a majority. GRECO questions whether this move is in line with European standards which in situations where final judicial appointments are taken by the executive, calls for independent authority drawn in substantial part from the Judiciary to be authorised to make recommendations or opinions prior to such appointments.

GRECO also recalls its own position, as clearly expressed in the evaluation report, paragraph 132, that the composition of the JAAB, consisting of a majority of judges and chaired by the Chief Justice, was considered suitable for the selection procedure.We are reforming but we are not making improvements.

The report states:

36. GRECO takes the view that the Judicial Appointments Bill as far as the composition of the appointments commission is concerned needs to reflect European standards [I am sure that is not something with which they agree in Westminster but I am sure this House should have some standard which we should aim to achieve] aiming at securing judicial independence through substantial judicial representation in relation to the overall composition of the proposed commission. The controversial Bill, which has been subject to some amendments in this respect, is still under debate in Parliament, subject to critical media attention...

The Taoiseach has his own view on critical media attention but we will not go into that here.