Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is no problem here. I served for eight years as Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the people who were appointed to the Supreme Court were not appointed on the basis of cronyism or political allegiance. They were appointed on the basis of what kind of people they were, what kind of brains they had, what kind of social attitudes they had and what kind of legal philosophy they had. Those were the criteria. I do not like where we are going with this approach. The Minister has indicated that we have not voted yet on amendment No. 90, but he has indicated that he is against the principle of exempting the present Judiciary from this process. No decent reason has been put for it.