Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to come back on that point. One of the things I have always been concerned about is that eminent people would shy away from the application process because of some of the things in this Bill. I agree that someone who has made it to the shortlist should not have to compete again on the same question. Senator McDowell has discussed the position of a candidate who is short-listed for an appointment in February and how, if another vacancy arises in March, he or she would have to go through the whole process again as a busy judge. That simply does not seem to make any sense. More important, let us suppose a candidate was to do it a second time and make it to the shortlist a second time but is not appointed. What is the likelihood that the candidate would do it on the third, fourth, fifth or sixth occasion? Are we going to lose eminent people because they decide that they will not subject themselves to a system whereby they can be short-listed and then fall off the end of the cliff? Let us suppose I am a High Court judge and I have been short-listed with two eminent High Court judges for a Supreme Court position and one of them gets the Supreme Court position. Then let us suppose another vacancy opens up but this time only three senior counsel are short-listed. I believe there is an inherent unfairness in asking people to go through the process of application after application. I believe the amendment we have put down is perfectly reasonable and solves the problem.I think the Minister's quick-fire reaction was shooting from the hip on this one. It is not uncommon.