Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes. This reminds me of F.E. Smith, Lord Birkenhead. I saw him on television last night or the night before on the RTÉ programme "The Irish Revolution". He was in court on one occasion and a judge said to him that he had been listening to him for the preceding two hours and was none the wiser. F.E. Smith said he agreed but that the judge was better informed. This amendment deals with a case where the Government advises the President to appoint any member of the Supreme Court to any judicial office. One of those offices is the position of Chief Justice. This scenario is covered. I am not elongating the debate but dealing with what this amendment proposes to do.

Irrespective of the process before the Government makes its decision on a vacancy, as matters currently stand and because the Dáil amended section 44, the commission is the means by which the position is filled. By the time the commission has considered all the applications from all the eligible judges to be made Chief Justice and advised the Government as to a short list of three candidates it believes should be considered, and by the time the Government has considered that short list, in all probability two months will have elapsed since the arising of the vacancy. That is the position as the Bill currently stands. What happens then? If a member of the Supreme Court is appointed as Chief Justice, a follow-on vacancy has to be considered. If an ordinary member of the Supreme Court is made Chief Justice, its numbers will be depleted and there will be a vacancy in that court that presumably the Government would intend to fill. The Government would then have to consider the position of ordinary member of the Supreme Court. That vacancy would have to be advertised and made the subject of a request to the commission to carry out its processes. It would be likely to take two or three months before qualified barristers, qualified solicitors and qualified members of the Judiciary could apply for the position of ordinary member of the Supreme Court. It is by no means pessimistic to state that it would take two or three months to carry out interviews and for the lay majority body to acquaint itself with the merits and demerits of each candidate.

Let me stop at that point to examine the circumstances. Could the Government ask for applications to the Court of Appeal and High Court in case an appointment was made from one of those courts? It cannot do so under the legislation as currently drafted-----