Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----and people who have applied to be judges are very charming, social and agreeable people. Some people appointed to the Bench would not immediately fit into those categories. It says nothing about their capacity to be a good or bad judge thereafter.

When one looks at the attributes provided in this section, one asks how they will be evaluated by interview. For instance, on the necessity to be independent, what questions can one put to ascertain if a candidate is a truly independent person? Is the board going to ask them role-playing questions to see how they would put up with a telephone call from the president of the court or deal with adverse newspaper comments on their cases.One cannot possibly ask them those questions because of their independence. All of this brings us back to the fundamental point that serving judges in the superior courts should not be put through a process which ignores the fact that they are already deemed by law to be suitable to carry out the functions in respect of which they are applying to be considered for appointment by the President. The idea of holding interviews for such persons is redundant.

In dealing with the previous section the Minister seemed to imply that the procedures committee might recommend to the commission that there not be interviews at all, but I am not sure whether that is what he is saying. If it is the case - this is the point on which I did not want to prolong the debate on the previous section - it is for the Houses of the Oireachtas, not the commission, to decide that issue. If it is to be the law that judges will be exempt from having to attend an interview, it is for us to decide that issue. It is not for an independent commission to decide that it will be done one way for a while and that we will then change the pattern and go back using to another way because we prefer live interviews. It is for the Houses of the Oireachtas to decide the appropriate procedure to be used or, if they are so persuaded, that there should be no interviews for serving members of the superior courts because holding them would serve no useful function.