Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have made it clear on many occasions in this debate that the Government is entitled to seek advice from whatever source it likes. It could consult with the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice and Equality alone, or it could ask them to ask senior judges for their opinions on who should or should not be appointed to any particular office. The Attorney General could say to the President of the High Court or somebody that his or her court needs strengthening and ask him or her to come up with some names of people who they should try to get to accept appointment to the court because they do not seem to be applying in sufficient numbers. There is nothing wrong with approaching people and telling them they should consider serving their country as a judge and that they should consider that they have had a very good opportunity to earn a good living as a lawyer and now they might consider doing some public service. Of course, somebody who is at the receiving end of such an approach, from my experience, would consider that such an approach would not be made if he or she was then just thanked for volunteering and told there is no interest in his or her application. That process is totally unreal. If a feeler is put out to people and they are asked to consider being a judge, by whatever channel, be it the Attorney General, the Minister or a senior judge, and if people are given the signal that the Government would like to appoint them or thinks they should apply for appointment, it seems to me to be completely ridiculous that they should then put in their application and find that they were misunderstanding the message completely and there really was very little interest in appointing them in the first place.From my experience as Attorney General and Minister for Justice and Equality, there were occasions when people were asked to make themselves available as judges, both through and not through the JAAB. There has to be some credibility to such an invitation.