David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will keep strictly to section 30 and the proposed judicial appointments commission office. It is not proposed to be a physical office because subsection (1) states, "There shall be attached to the Commission an office to be known as the Judicial Appointments Commission Office (in this Act referred to as the "Office") which shall assist the Commission in the performance of its functions." It will obviously be composed of people and will not involve a building or anything of that nature. I wonder about this because we have already had reference to persons, consultants and advisers. Is this office in addition to these or will it consist of those persons, consultants and advisers? What will be the relationship between them? Is this an additional element of personnel? Subsection (2) states, "The Office shall be funded by moneys provided by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform." Should this not be a clear budget? How much is involved? Are there any limits at all on it? It seems very vague.

Subsection (3) states, "The office shall be under the management and control of the Commission and subject to the direction of the Director." That is pretty bland and is perfectly all right. I have no problem with it at all. Subsection (4), however, states, "The Commission may, with the consent of the Minister given with the approval of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, appoint such and so many persons to be members of the staff of the Office as it may determine." That is enormously wide. It is really swingeing. Listen to it - "such and so many persons to be members of the staff ... as it may determine". One could have thousands of them. It just seems to me to be absurdly wide. Then we have subsection (5), which states: "The terms and conditions of service of a member of staff of the Office shall be determined by the Commission with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform." I presume this is a kind of trade union thing as it refers to the pay and circumstances of employment in the office and so on. That is fair enough. Subsection (6) states, "A member of staff of the Office shall be a civil servant in the Civil Service of the State." How long are they expected to last? Does this concern pension rights? Will they be already covered in terms of secrecy by the Official Secrets Act and so on?

I have asked a few questions but I have no significant difficulty with the section except for the vagueness of the terminology in it.