Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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327. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the expressions of interest by three sitting members of the superior courts in a vacancy on the Supreme Court was conveyed to her Department by the Office of the Attorney General prior to the most recent appointment to the Supreme Court. [39322/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Judicial appointments are made in accordance with Articles 13.9 and 35.1 of the Constitution, by the President acting on the advice of the Government. This is a Constitutional function that cannot be transferred or delegated. The Constitutional prerogative on advising the President on judicial appointments lies with the Government alone.

Eligible serving Judges who wish to express an interest in elevation to positions in the superior courts are not currently required to apply to Judicial Advisory Appointments Board (JAAB). Instead, there is a process whereby expressions of interest may be submitted to the Minister of the day via the office of the Attorney General. Such expressions of interest are received on an ongoing basis and retained for any current or future vacancy that might arise.

Whether or not existing judges put forward expressions of interest is a confidential matter for obvious reasons, and it is not the practice to release information that might identify any of those judges. However, I am conscious of recent speculation that three such expressions of interest were received. I have not contributed to this speculation at any time and while I cannot disclose any personal details, I wish to be clear that there were in fact five expressions of interest on file dating from 2017 up until June 2020. All of these were submitted to me and I actively considered all of them.

Having considered the response from the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board: expressions of interest from serving members of the judiciary and all other judges eligible for the position, I made a decision, completed the necessary consultations in line with the Cabinet Handbook and proposed a name to Cabinet. All the requirements of the process, as set out in law, were fully met.