Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin will oppose amendment No. 38. It seeks to remove from the council's annual report information relating to judges who have been reprimanded by the council. That seems contrary to the spirit of the rest of the Bill and boils down to it being a matter of public interest. While I respect that where an accusation has been made and a judge has not been reprimanded for misconduct, that anonymity ought to be protected, that is not the wording nor is it an issue that exists within the current Bill. Where it is the case that a judge has been reprimanded and the threshold for such as fine has been adequately met by the functions of the council, then it is vital that this be included in any annual report for the important perception of transparency and accountability which is core to the spirit of the Bill. While I concede that I do not have the legal experience or capacity of other colleagues across the House, and while I do not want to get into hypothetical examples, there are examples where I believe this could become an issue if that information were not to be forthcoming and was not brought before the public in a way that was appropriate, respectful, transparent and in the public interest.