Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Norris that I am dealing with section 44 as it currently exists, whereby there is no committee to advise the Government on the appointment of the Chief Justice, the President of the Court of Appeal or the President of the High Court. It is the commission that has to do all of that work.I do not want to be disorderly, but there is no timeframe provided for the commission to carry out its functions. If it takes a leisurely approach and decides that, with so many applicants, it can take two or three months to come up with a shortlist to fill a particular position, it might be considered to be completely unacceptable by the Government. Let us say the commission is to be involved in the appointment of a new Chief Justice. If the position is vacant for whatever reason and it takes three months to fill it, that could be problematic. There could be circumstances in which the Government believes we need to have a Chief Justice immediately because there are important decisions pending in the Supreme Court or the Chief Justice will be faced with important decisions or work on, for example, Article 26 references and so forth. As long as section 44 vests responsibility in the commission for the selection of individuals to fill these senior positions, it is appropriate to allow the Minister to opt out of that provision in circumstances in which there is urgency.

As Senator Norris said, we have to deal with the Bill as it stands. I am interested in and supportive of the reform of section 44 but only to a point, as the Minister knows. I do not think he and I are going to see eye to eye on the ultimate make-up of the section or how it will ultimately stand. It is my understanding it was amended by a majority in Dáil Éireann. The Minister indicated on the last occasion that he would determine where the Sinn Féin Party stood on the issue and let me know. That could be relevant in determining whether a majority in this House will support the passage of the Minister's amendment. If Sinn Féin is opposed to his proposal that it go back to a committee, we could be talking about a situation where this House would not adopt the Minister's reformulation of section 44 on Committee Stage. I am interested in knowing if the Minister has done his homework and found out where Sinn Féin stands on the subject of the amendment Dáil Éireann made to section 44 against his wishes.