John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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832. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps the Government is taking to ensure that Ireland complies with its international legal responsibilities regarding judicial corruption relative to Article II of the UN convention against corruption; if legislation or regulations will be introduced to prevent an organisation (details supplied) from mandatorily making a Superior Court judge a bencher upon their taking their judicial seal of office or that would prohibit serving judges from being members of a society; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28240/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The relevant Article of the Convention to which the Deputy refers also refers to the taking of measures which would include rules with respect to the conduct of members of the judiciary. I am happy to inform the Deputy that the Judicial Council Bill was published on 1 June 2017. This Bill envisages both the establishment of a Judicial Council and a Judicial Conduct Committee. The function of the Judicial Conduct Committee, which will have a number of members who are not judges, will be to promote and maintain high standards of conduct among judges. One of the tasks of the Judicial Conduct Committee will be, not later than 12 months after its establishment, to prepare and submit draft guidelines concerning judicial conduct and ethics for adoption by the Judicial Council. The Committee will also have a role in providing advice to an individual judge or to judges generally on these matters.

At present, under the Prevention of Corruption Acts, 1889 to 2010, Irish judges are included in a list of public officials to which certain corruption offences apply. These offences include the corruption in office offence under section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2001, as well as the offences of general active and passive corruption under section 2 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2001 and section 2 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2010. Penalties for these offences include a term of imprisonment up to 10 years and/or an unlimited fine upon conviction.

In addition to the current statutory provisions, I will shortly bring forward new legislation that will repeal the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889 to 2010 and replace and expand upon the offences and presumptions contained in those Acts. The Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill will provide for significant terms of imprisonment, unlimited fines and additional penalties including forfeiture of, and exclusion from, office in the case of certain officials. The Bill will give better effect to the main requirements of a number of international anti-corruption instruments which Ireland has already ratified, including the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.