Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The section states, "the objective that the membership of the judiciary should, to the extent feasible and practicable, reflect the diversity within the population as a whole". It also states, "the objective that, consistent with the written statement most recently provided under section 53(7)to the Procedures Committee concerning the needs of the users of the courts in that regard, the membership of the judiciary should include persons with a proficiency in the Irish language." In the past we have seen some pretty notable cases struck out because the Irish language was not used. This happened recently with a road traffic incident if I am not mistaken, and there have been various other incidents.

We made the point yesterday that those seeking elevation within the courts system or seeking appointment to senior judicial positions should not see their application disappear into the ether, with no feedback or information on what happened or where things went right or wrong. Yesterday I made the point that natural justice requires that people who put a lot of effort into applying for positions are entitled to some sort of explanation as to whether they made the list or not. That is what we are trying to provide here. With the prospective paragraph 42(a) we hope to clarify whether the person was or was not among those recommended by the commission to the Government in respect of the appointment. I accept that the insertion of this amendment will give rise to questions. People who did not make the shortlist may want to ask why. It may also lead to a situation where the deliberations of the commission are subjected to judicial review of some sort or other. Individuals may feel they should have been on the list if they are not. We are trying to provide people with some sort of assurance that the procedures are fair, open and transparent. This amendment does that.

To turn to paragraph (b), if the commission considers a person to be ineligible for appointment by reason of the requirements of section 35, and where the commission cannot make any recommendation in any case, it shall notify all persons who applied to it in respect of that appointment that it made no recommendation. That would be a pretty serious situation. Yesterday the Minister, Senator McDowell and I seemed to have three different views on how long it would take to fill a position based on the amount of time it would take to convene the board of the commission-----