Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As my colleague said, where a judge is interviewed for the first time before he or she is appointed to a superior court - he or she may make it to Chief Justice - his or her organisational skills will be so important. How are those organisational skills to be tested at the point of entry if judges are not to be interviewed as they move along? We are back to the questions an individual should be asked. In over 40 years at work I have never met anybody who wants to move into a promotional position who has said he or she wants to be interviewed because there are things he or she wants to say. At that stage one's record speaks for itself. Why would any judge of the High Court want to go through an interview process to be appointed to the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court? Why would a judge want to put himself or herself through it? He or she has already been through a selection process and appointed. Why would he or she say, "Hang on a minute; I want to do an interview. I want all of those in the commission to know what a wonderful person I am and about my membership of the GAA," and whatever else Senator McDowell was talking about. I cannot see the rationale behind it. I would like Senator Noone to explain what exactly she sees that is going on.