Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

To be clear, I have checked it. After all the debate, nobody in this Seanad mentioned the necessity of preventing foreign legal practitioners from having a role on the judicial appointments commission. We are open to correction on this; this is the process. This is the first amendment the Government has put forward. The Minister may say what he has to about this in a minute. What is the point in having us debate this legislation at all if our views are just cast aside to be ignored in favour of whatever the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, in this case Deputy Ross, wants? It is ridiculous. The Minister is no longer a Member of this House. He does not interfere in the management of it and I hope he would not interfere with the work of Deputy Charles Flanagan as Minister for Justice and Equality, which work I acknowledge he does well.

I am curious as to whether this amendment, if we as Members of the Seanad had submitted it, would even have been accepted under Standing Orders. Clearly, there is a theme running through all this. This needs to be examined, taking into account our Standing Orders, given that there was zero debate on this question.