Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We previously discussed the word "may" but a situation has arisen even in my case where a decision was taken not to fill a particular vacancy or a decision was taken by the president of the relevant court that it was not required, so that allows for that discretion. That is not to say that a Minister might randomly decide not to fill positions in the District Court or elsewhere when they might clearly be needed. This just ensures that the Minister may do so if that is what is necessary.

On the question of reasonably anticipating that there may be a vacancy, the same is the case at the moment - a person may be appointed by the Cabinet but the official process of going to the President, being officially nominated and moving into that position does not happen immediately. If that person has been appointed by the Cabinet, we know that a vacancy has arisen, which allows the process to start even though the person has not officially been appointed. There is a reasonable understanding that having been appointed by the Cabinet, the person will be appointed. It is often a case of having to work with the President's schedule. Sometimes there is a wait for one or two different appointments to happen at the same time and the ceremony happens in the President's residence at the same time. This allows for a process to start when a person has not officially been appointed but it is reasonable to anticipate that a vacancy will arise once he or she has been appointed. In response to the Senator's previous questions, it allows for a process to start.

I anticipate that the commission will be more resourced and, hopefully, more efficient in terms of the process. Therefore, rather than every application taking three months, it could be done much more quickly. That would be set out by the commission. When things start, it might take a bit of time but I anticipate that things will move quickly enough. What this really does is anticipate that a process can start when a person has been appointed but has not officially taken on the role for the reasons I have outlined. This is very similar to what happens now.