Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 93b:

In page 31, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:"47. Where the Commission has in the past recommended the appointment of any person to any type of judicial office, that person shall for the purposes of this Act also be deemed to be recommended to any judicial office of the same type except when the person has notified the Commission or the Secretary to the Government that he or she no longer wishes to be considered for such type of appointment.".

This amendment is similar to one which has already been considered. Therefore, I do not propose to have too long a debate on it. Senator Norris thought we had debated it already but, in fact, we debated a very similar amendment that the Minister rejected. I will not, therefore, reiterate the debate at great length. However, it seems to me absurd that if I am on a shortlist of three and am recommended and a vacancy of the same type occurs a month later, the Government gets a shortlist on which I no longer appear. I am deemed not to have been a recommended person even though I was recommended a month earlier. In the circumstances, I ask the Minister to accept the amendment.