Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I can only speak from personal experience but I have never heard it suggested that anybody was appointed to the Bench on foot of any discussion with the Executive as to how they would decide any particular case. If that is the case for the Executive, it must be doubly so for a group which is not the Executive and is not politically accountable for the appointments that are made.

This amendment is designed to make it absolutely clear that applicants, particularly serving judges but also persons who are not serving judges because it does not differentiate between the two, should in no sense feel that when they apply to the Judicial Appointments Commission with a view to being recommended to the Government for appointment, any answer they would give on any particular issue of law or matter of legal controversy, including constitutional interpretation or amendment, would in any sense be asked of them or appear even potentially to influence the outcome of the commission's deliberations. I commend this amendment to the House.