Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We were discussing section 30 when I reported progress yesterday. It occurred to me overnight that it is all very well to talk about €500,000 per annum being the increased cost of this body, but I ask Senators to consider that if this is to become a permanent or semi-permanent part of the budget of the State, it is equivalent, in terms of annual interest servicing, to an increase in the national debt of approximately €25 million. If we could put the €500,000 which is proposed to be spent on what I consider to be an extremely wasteful project into debt-servicing or whatever, we would be able to retire debt to the amount of €25 million. This is assuming that we will not be running surpluses. We never seem to get to a budget surplus. Perhaps this year will be the year we hit a budget surplus again. Before we blithely add a sum of this amount to achieve nothing worthwhile, however, we should pause and reflect on it.

I will not detain the House much longer on this matter except to make the following point. In recent times this Government has made excellent appointments to the superior courts of this country, on which I congratulate the Minister and his colleagues. It did not need a judicial appointments commission to do so. Putting excellent people on the Bench does not require the establishment of a quango of this kind. Unless it is suggested, or the excuse is, that what is proposed is insurance against a Government of lesser discernment putting less meritorious candidates on the Bench, then this is an entire waste of time and money. The annual increase of €500,000 may seem small in terms of the larger picture but it is the equivalent of adding a very significant amount to the national debt or else not retiring the equivalent amount from our national debt. I very much regret that this wasteful quango is being established and that the office proposed in section 30 will absorb taxpayers' money, which will be thrown away. We have excellent judges, we are appointing excellent judges and we do not need this system to assist the Government in its choice of judges. This Government has shown, as has the Minister, who is the person who proposes individual members to the Cabinet under current procedures, that we are capable of excellence - not merely excellence in terms of stellar lawyers, but also diversity, men and women, people who are top-class lawyers and people who are perhaps not recognised but equally skilful and who have more modest practices. All this is possible without the establishment of this quango.

The Minister keeps saying that this is an important part of the Government's legislative programme. That is only because one member of the Government thinks it is important. It is not important if we look at it in the broader sense, that excellent appointments can be made and are being made without it. I spent two and a half hours waiting for this debate to begin. The Government had other priorities regarding the House's time. If that is the Government's way of conducting business, it is fine by me. However, if the Bill is regarded as important, the Minister, Deputy Ross, is the only member of his Independent Alliance who regards it as such. The vast majority of Fine Gael people I have met resent this Bill and think it is a waste of time. The great majority of Members in both Houses-----