Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to interject briefly. My colleague, Senator McDowell, is acutely aware of human nature and the way in which people interact with one another. He has made his professional career out of that awareness. While I understand the Minister's point that he does not believe we would finish up with an adversarial position in which the Attorney General is totally at odds with the remainder of the judicial appointments commission, I suggest that not believing it and it not being possible are two different things. It is highly possible that this will happen. Anybody who has ever sat on a committee of any sort in Ireland, or anywhere else, knows that this is possible. Given that we are talking about the most senior law officer in the land, it is also possible that he or she could be at odds with the other members of the commission and could refuse to accept their deliberations. The legislation we are putting in place here will probably last 25 or 30 years. With all due respect to the Minister, we cannot go on his gut feelings on how it will operate. We have to look for the worst-case scenario, which is exactly the scenario that my colleague, Senator McDowell, has just outlined. In such a scenario, who or what will rule? Will the constitutional position of the Attorney General and the constitutional prerogative of the Government rule, or will the legislation rule? I will leave it to Senator McDowell to make any other comments he might wish to make. I am a little concerned that we sometimes proceed on the basis of a Minister's views or opinions which may not be reflected in a subsequent court case.