Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The bottom line of this section is that there is no prohibition on somebody approaching a member of the commission or the Government to suggest that a particular person should be shortlisted or, if shortlisted, should be appointed. That may be the law we are about to make, namely, that anybody except the applicant can approach anybody on the commission. It would also go the other way around in terms of suggesting that a person should not be shortlisted by approaching a member of the commission and saying, for example, that Michael McDowell is a most unsuitable person to put on the Bench. If that is permissible, I do not know what this section is all about. I really think this has not been thought through.