Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Mullen's point. There is a remarkable discordance, that one could ignore experience as a barrister or a solicitor if it was more than 15 years ago but in the case of a retired or former judge, one cannot ignore any period at any time in the past. It disqualifies the person completely. That was the point that I was trying to make and I hope that I was not unclear in what I am saying. One group of people is permanently and by definition excluded, no matter how long ago they held judicial office or functions similar to that of the Director of Public Prosecutions or Attorney General outside the State. It is easy, with regard to paragraph (b), to be distracted by the fact that the person is not and never has been the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Chief State Solicitor or a law officer.

The term "law officer" is defined as meaning somebody employed in the service of a state. I presume that we are talking about the service of a foreign state. The definition that was added states: "a condition for the employment of the person was that he or she was a practising barrister or a practising solicitor". Does that apply to advocates in Germany and to various forms of lawyer around Europe or is it solely directed at common law jurisdictions where such categories actually exist? We are left in the dark about that. Even taking the most charitable and constructive view of it, we are left with the dilemma that a person who held judicial or law officer status is permanently and forever excluded from ever serving on the Irish judicial appointments commission, no matter how distant in the past that service was. If a person was, at any stage in his or her life, a barrister or solicitor practising in a jurisdiction outside the State in accordance with the law of that jurisdiction during the qualified period, which is 15 years, that person is subject, as Senator Norris puts it, to a 15-year quarantine.