Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 97da:

In page 34, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following:

“53. No statement under this Part shall provide for the interviewing of any applicant who is a serving judge in the Superior Courts in respect of any application to the Commission by him or her in respect of any vacancy in a judicial office in any of those courts.”.

I want to make clear that serving judges in the superior courts should not be interviewed by the commission in respect of any vacancy for a judicial office in any of those courts. This is a matter of fundamental importance to me. As I have said on a number of occasions, and I do not want to unduly emphasise or be repetitive in respect of this, every member of the High Court is ex officiocapable of functioning, at the invitation of the President of the Court of Appeal, as an ordinary member of that court and is capable of being asked by the Chief Justice to serve on the Supreme Court. One is ex officio qualified to serve, if invited, as an ordinary member of the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court if one is a member of the High Court. One's appointment to the High Court carries with it the obligation on the part of the Government that chooses one in the first place not to appoint somebody who would not be suitable to serve in the Court of Appeal or in the Supreme Court because, under the law, any person who is a High Court judge may, if invited by the President of the Court of Appeal or the Chief Justice, serve in the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court as an ordinary temporary member of that court for any particular case. It follows as a matter of law and logic, in my view, that one is already deemed suitable to be a Court of Appeal member or a Supreme Court member to determine any particular case.That raises the very obvious question of what kind of questions one could be asked by a committee charged with interviewing applicants that would be in any way relevant to the outcome of the deliberations of the judicial appointments commission. What subjects could it discuss with them? One thing it cannot discuss with a candidate is what one's attitudes are to matters legal. We will deal with that in a subsequent amendment. What can it ask a candidate about? Can it ask about one's background? One's background is irrelevant. One is already a member of the High Court. What possible subject could there be at one of those so-called interviews of a judge? Can it ask whether one plays golf and what is one's handicap?