Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

A board the size of the JAAB needs to agree to hold interviews on a particular date and the Minister knows that getting an agreed date is always a problem. Some candidates are not available on the appointed day and a second date has to be set up and this is why I believe Senator McDowell is being optimistic. It could take as many as four months to make just one appointment and if there is a trickle-down effect, there will be all sorts of problems.

Senator McDowell raised a number of issues that process and procedures cannot deal with, namely, those that include a human factor. He said the Supreme Court may be overly burdened with conservative members and may feel the need to get some liberal members on the board but we cannot tell the board to advertise for a liberal person because that would open the door for conservative members of the Bar or the courts to object to the advertisement. We cannot prescribe the type of person we want. This methodology will turn people off after the first or second round of vacancies, because applying for a serious position requires a lot of attention to detail and a lot of work. It is not a question of resubmitting the same application, as the application has to be filled out to meet the needs of the advertisement. If the board is not allowed to take into account the various human characteristics of the individuals who apply and has to stick to a prescribed methodology, we will finish up with the wrong type of people. As Senator McDowell said, perhaps we will finish up with a Supreme Court with nobody who has criminal law experience and that will leave the entire process flawed.

The system we have at the moment is one in which the Minister and the Attorney General consider a number of people for appointments as Chief Justice, a Supreme Court judge, a judge on the Court of Appeal or a High Court judge, which are often considered together and announced on the same day. However, this will be taken out of the equation and we will finish up with even more serious bottlenecks than we have at the moment. One of the terrible aspect of this Bill, as it blunders its way through this House, is that the courts system is creaking as it waits for appointments. We would be far better off doing what they do in the United States, which is to have the esteemed members of the Senate interview prospective members of the courts and made a recommendation to the Minister, rather than to adopt the method in this Bill.