Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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343. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board that recommended the appointment of a person (details supplied) to the Supreme Court, included the Chief Justice, who was the chairperson of the board, the President of the Court of Appeal, the President of the High Court, the President of the Circuit Court, the President of the District Court, the Attorney General, a practising barrister nominated by the chairman of the council of the Bar of Ireland, a practising solicitor nominated by the president of the Law Society of Ireland and persons appointed by the Minister to be members of the board whose terms had not expired; if not, if a list will be provided of the persons who did not participate in the board that made the recommendation; and the reason received from each for their non-participation. [39537/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB) is an independent body set up to identify persons and inform the Government of the suitability of those persons for appointment to judicial office. Its functions are set out in section 16 of the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995, as amended.

Section 18 of the 1995 Act makes specific provision that the Board may recommend the Attorney General for appointment to judicial office. Where the Attorney General wishes to be considered for appointment to judicial office, he or she shall withdraw from any deliberations of the Board concerning his or her suitability for judicial office. This is the law.

As outlined to the House earlier today, I can confirm that the Chief Justice wrote to my predecessor on 4 February 2020 requesting that the Supreme Court vacancy arising from the retirement of Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan in June 2019 be filled. He cited emerging pressures including the establishment of the Cervical Check Tribunal.

The then Minister wrote to the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB) on 17 February 2020. He asked the Board to furnish him with nominations for this vacancy, and the name of each person who had informed the Board of his or her wish to be considered for appointment.

The Minister also wrote separately to the Chief Justice stating that this request of the JAAB did not pre-suppose the filling of the post; it was to facilitate the procedure should a decision be taken to make an appointment at whatever point in the future that vacancy might be progressed.

By letter to my predecessor dated 11 March, 2020, the JAAB advised that they had met on 9 March and decided to recommend one candidate, Mr Séamus Woulfe, SC, whom it considered suitable for appointment to the Supreme Court. As requested by the Minister, and as required by the Courts and Court Officers Act, 1995, the JAAB indicated that there was one applicant considered for this post through the JAAB process, Seamus Woulfe, SC, and that there were no other applicants.

Under Section 20 of the 1995 Act, all proceedings of the Board and all communications to the Board are confidential, so that is all of the information made available to me by the independent Board.