Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It seems that the process of filling the position of Chief Justice will be carried out by the commission, normally where the Chief Justice is in office and will participate as one of the four judicial members of the commission making a decision, but if, for instance, there was a resignation or whatever, the next senior judge of that court would carry out that function. Am I correct in thinking that?

Section 45(1)(a) envisages the Chief Justice making an application to the commission, and I presume that that would be for appointment to some European court or something of that kind. There is the question that he "shall not attend any meeting of the Commission held for the purpose of the performance of that function". Is it to be the case that meetings can only deal with one application? For instance, the Attorney General might be applying to be a High Court judge and the commission might on a particular afternoon be also considering an appointment to the Circuit Court. Do they have to be separate meetings to ensure that the Attorney General does not participate in any part of the meeting where the Attorney General is under consideration? Should it not be that the Attorney General shall absent himself or herself from any portion of the meeting held for the purpose of the performance of that function?

The other matter is that section 45(1)(d) seems to imply that the Attorney General shall not cast a vote but I thought that we had decided in an earlier section for some reason that he or she had not a vote to cast in the first place. Am I right on that?