Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was quoting from a note of a meeting on 2 March 2017 between the then Taoiseach, the then Tánaiste, the Attorney General and Justices O'Donnell, Ms Finlay Geoghegan and George Birmingham. The note says that a number of points of concern regarding the proposed new model for judicial appointments were made by the Judiciary representatives, including the need for legislation to be based in a comprehensive research process and on good and bad lessons from other countries; the concern that the system proposed with a lay majority and complex processes would deter applicants of the required calibre from putting themselves forward; that a system that might deter the right applicants is damaging to the administration of justice; that there were particularly important requirements for the selection processes for the superior courts that they regarded as inappropriate, such as that the Chief Justice would not be the chairperson of the new body; that lay people required for the new body should be selected by a very careful process to avoid "people with an agenda" becoming part or even part or even a majority; that the lay people should be people of eminent standing with expertises in HR selection processes; that the Chief Justice and all court presidents should be members of the body; that academics with no practical experience should not be eligible for judicial appointment - that has been remedied because the academics will be required to have practical experience; and that consideration should be given to ensuring that the new body can work through a system of selection panels for the purpose of a particular selection process.These proposals were made at meetings but when the Bill was published and amended in the Dáil, GRECO continued to express concerns about it. The Government stated that it had had in-depth consultation with the Judiciary about the Bill in its present form, but it turned out that this was not the case.

For me to get my head around the idea of laypersons being either a majority or minority, I have to understand the selection process. The term "Public Appointments Service" is not defined in the Bill. I do not know whether it means anything as a matter of law. If it is a group of people in an office somewhere who have no statutory basis, I have a concern about this because their composition can be changed completely. If it was the Commission for Public Service Appointments, on which people such as the Ceann Comhairle, the Ombudsman, the chair of the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, and various others are five ex officiomembers, I could understand even though I would point out that the Secretaries General of the Government and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are Government appointees under that statutory model. I am much more concerned with getting clarity about what "Public Appointments Service" means. If it is not a statutory body, then we have a problem with the Bill.