Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will not prolong the agony of the House. It is striking that amendment No. 22 proposes that the personal injuries guidelines committee will consist entirely of judges. Will the Minister of State explain the rationale for that? I am reminded of one of the main contentious issues with the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017, which I am loath to invoke. It is the last thing I want to do. I am conscious of the need to avoid conflating the two Bills. I will not labour that Bill any more than I have to. The question of whether the appointments committee should have a lay majority among its membership and should have a lay chair is the contentious issue that comes to mind. I ask the Minister of State to take this opportunity, before the Bill proceeds elsewhere, to explain the departmental rationale for the proposed composition of the personal injuries guidelines committee.