Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Nobody is infallible in this area, and I do not claim infallibility here. However, I do believe that we must be in the realm of common sense.

It is very clear to me that what we are proposing here is a legislative scheme to keep the members of the Government ignorant of the choices that are open to them. That is what it is about. Section 40, which states that nothing limits the advice of the Government, is a replication of a provision from the existing Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, JAAB, legislation. It is not a dead piece of legislation or something which is entirely exceptional. When the Government decides to appoint someone to the Judiciary without reference to JAAB, as it has done on occasion, it is obliged to differentiate between its appointment and a JAAB-recommended appointment by the terms of the notice published in Iris Oifigiúil. This must state that the appointment either is or is not on foot of a recommendation of JAAB. That is the present situation, and it is proposed to continue that with this legislation. The Government would have to 'fess up, so to speak, if it decided to go outside the process and appoint somebody directly. As I have said, that is not a dead letter. It is well known that the current Chief Justice was appointed directly by the Government without any JAAB process. I instance that to say that those were decisions made by the then Government which had nothing to do with JAAB, even though JAAB was there.