David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the people who have applied for promotion. Whatever about the Government not knowing about his or her application, the individual applicant would certainly know.I do not know if it is impossible to contemplate a situation where such a person might take legal action and force discovery of the reasons he or she was disbarred. If the person was told that he or she was useless as a judge, or was an old drunkard or something like it, he or she could take an action for libel. I do not believe that is beyond the bounds of possibility. Perhaps my esteemed colleague Senator McDowell might enlighten me on whether this scenario is a possibility. If an individual had put his or her name forward and was refused on the grounds of being inappropriate, could he or she take an action to force discovery and then a libel action? I would be very interested in knowing the answer to that question. It would expose the Government to a risk.