Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and take his point about the senior level judicial appointments committee. He has indicated his willingness to take on board some of the points that have been raised about that matter in the context of this debate. I will briefly address the point raised by Senator McDowell and which will be dealt with by amendment No. 90, which is currently under discussion. He proposed a new subsection (8) to a new section 44, which shall require the committee to make a report to the Government, including the names of persons who have expressed an interest in appointment to judicial office, as well as the names of the persons whom the committee recommends. I still do not see why there is a difficulty with requiring the committee to provide what Senator Norris has described as a "longlist" of candidates to the Government. Following the debate, I cannot see where the problem lies in giving the Government that list of names.

Like Senator McDowell, I am against the idea of a self-appointing or self-perpetuating judicial appointments process, where judges simply appoint people in their own mould. I have already spoken of the dangers of affinity bias and so on and I will not repeat all that. I do not see where the difficulty lies in having the committee supply the longlist to the Government. In keeping with Cabinet confidentiality, that would not be published anywhere else. It would be outrageous if it were to be published anywhere else. That is not the proposal, which is simply to make a report of those names to the Government. I will not labour the point but I still do not see where the difficulty lies in making that provision.