David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to turn to the contentious paragraph (d). What I find interesting is that it reads, "for the purposes of this paragraph, was not a solicitor or barrister practising in a jurisdiction outside the State in accordance with the law of that jurisdiction”. There are many different legal systems in operation, some of them quite different from the common law system that is operation in this country. I simply do not understand why administering a totally different system of law should possibly disqualify somebody from acting in this situation. It is absurd. For example, the French system is quite different in terms of the way it is prosecuted and the whole legal framework and background is totally different. Why on earth that should disqualify somebody from administering the law in this jurisdiction is completely beyond me.

Amendment No. 8, in my name, which may or may not fall depending on what happens to amendment No. 7, reads, "In page 8, to delete lines 22 to 27", which concerns the definition of "lay person". The Bill reads:

“lay person” means a person who- (a) does not hold, and has never held, judicial office,

(b) is not and never has been the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Chief State Solicitor or a law officer, and

(c) is not, and in the relevant period specified by subsection (2)for the purposes of this paragraph, was not, a practising barrister or a practising solicitor.

I want to get rid of all that content on the definition of "lay person". I disagree fundamentally with the idea that there should always be a majority of laypersons on the commission.

Amendment No. 10 reads, "In page 8, to delete lines 33 to 37." This deals with the period of time. In this regard, the Bill reads:

The relevant period for the purposes of paragraph (c)of the definition of “lay person” in subsection (1)is the period of 15 years immediately preceding the latest date on which a person may apply to participate in the selection process (whereby a recommendation for his or her appointment to the Commission may be made by the Public Appointments Service).

A period of 15 years is astonishingly long. It is an enormous amount of time. If we go 15 years back from this date, it is to 2004. People of my age can hardly remember 2004.