Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The lay majority of the commission is not the determining factor in my mind. I would still have this objection if there were 100 judges and no lay people on the commission. I do not believe it is the function of the Judiciary to tell the Government who is best and who is not for any position. The Constitution vests that function in the Executive, the members of Government, and nobody else. I fear excessive influence of the Judiciary in formulating shortlists as much as I fear the influence of strangers from the outside if the Government is to be coerced, in effect, to choose a candidate from that shortlist.It does not matter to me who does the choosing. The principle is the same: the Executive under our Constitution is given this function and it cannot be taken away from it.

I am not kowtowing to the members of the Judiciary or licking them in any shape or form. I would worry if their influence was increased significantly in this respect. I do not think they should choose themselves or that they should be a self-selecting elite, and I want to make that very clear. I would be much happier to have some practising lawyers introduced in greater numbers than-----