Joe Conway (Independent)

Yes indeed, and it gets better because just at the top of my road, there resided a lovely man called Mr. Justice Hubert Wine. He is long gone now. In a chat I had with him once he cracked a good joke, I thought. He said one of his defendants said that he had been sentenced by "just a swine". The sobriquet was anything but appropriate for Mr. Justice Wine because he was an entirely lovely man.

That leads me on to the point I am about to make. Judges are gifted with judiciousness but not with divinity and, as such, they are open to bias, bigotry, caprice and all of those things. If they do not like the colour of your hair, the shape of your face, the colour of your skin, the accent you use or the place you come from, or many other things that are open to bias and caprice, it will almost inevitably impact the way they look on a defendant in a case. The long-held treasured principle in common law areas that people are triable by juries is a magnificent defence and civil right that we should not toss to the wind.

I do not think it is a much of a coincidence but when I was listening to the "Today" programme this morning getting ready to come in here, I heard that in our sister island across the main, the Leveson report was published today. The UK is also talking about doing away with jury trials but, interestingly enough, it has taken a much more measurable thing, namely, bribery and fraud. I was just thinking, as an ordinary layman, that it would be easier to make a judgment on bribery and fraud and on the hard evidence that is likely than it would be on the much more mercurial items that are brought up with regard to defamation and character.

I have that reservation about that measure. I am not even out of time, which is unusual for me, but I want to say, mar fhocail scoir, that I really am delighted to see the Minister back in the Seanad again. He is a better attender than most of us, I would say, and I am delighted to see that he holds the House in such respect and that he gives an account of his work and labours, which are long and will hopefully continue to be fruitful.