Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 97dc:

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

"53.A statement published under this Part shall state that no applicant for judicial appointment shall be questioned, interviewed or required in any way so as to disclose his or her political, religious or ideological beliefs or sexual orientation.".

These matters should be off limits. Clearly one's party political outlook is irrelevant to one's appointment to the Bench. One's religious views have now become irrelevant to an appointment. There was a time, when I was a young barrister, that a person of a religious minority was appointed to the various superior courts. There was a convention that no court in this country would be entirely composed of catholics.