Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Briefly arising out of that, I am a bit mystified by some of the provisions of this Bill and I have studied it more carefully. One of these provision is section 42. Section 42(1) provides:

The Minister may request the Commission to make recommendations for appointment or for nomination for appointment to judicial office, as the case may be, where— (a) a judicial office stands vacant, or

(b) he or she reasonably anticipates that there will be a vacancy in a judicial office.

That seems to be discretionary in that the Minister "may" do so but is not obliged to do so. I can see one circumstance in which the Minister might not make request the commission to make recommendations if it was intended to decrease the number of judges, say, in the High Court, the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court. He might say we are leaving that vacant so although there is a vacancy there, it stands vacant and not ask for recommendations. I can see that that could happen but if one combines that with section 51-----