Fianna Fail to reject legislation on new judicial appointments

Fianna Fail will not support legislation to introduce a new judicial appointments body if it is not chaired by the Chief Justice.

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has agreed with Minister for Transport Shane Ross the general scheme of a Bill which will change the way judges are appointed.

It will allow for the establishment of a judicial appointments commission of 11 members, including a lay chairperson.

The Chief Justice, the Attorney General and either the president of the Court of Appeal or the High Court will be the main three legal figures on the commission.

A practising barrister nominated by the Council of the Bar of Ireland and a practising solicitor nominated by the president of the Law Society of Ireland will also be on the commission.

Five lay members, including a representative of victims rights and human rights groups, will make up the body.

The commission will be asked to select three names for each vacancy on the bench and their recommendations will be sent to Cabinet for final selection.

Different

This is significantly different to what was proposed in a Bill moved by Fianna Fail’s justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan. Mr O’Callaghan proposed a similar appointments body but with a majority of the members to be from the legal profession and with the Chief Justice chairing it.

Speaking to The Irish Times, the Fianna Fail TD said what was now agreed with Mr Ross was a reflection of the disrespect the Government has for the judiciary. “A proposal that the Taoiseach would sit on a committee but not be its chairman would be dismissed out of hand by Government,” he said.

The party spokesman said Fianna Fail policy was contained in it’s own Bill and they would not be changing their position.

Mr O’Callaghan said the Government proposals were a cynical attempt to appease Mr Ross, who, he claimed, was advocating for ill-considered and deeply flawed changes.

Mr Ross said he understood Fianna Fail’s concerns but said he hoped they could reach a solution between them.

The Minister said: “It is too early to be talking about compromising. This was contained in the Programme for Government. The Independent Alliance was elected on that programme. It was hard fought and those are key, sacred pillars of the Programme for Government.”

Published

The general scheme of Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2016 will now be sent to the justice committee for debate and the draft heads of a Bill will be published early in the new year.

Mr Ross said he would continue to push for changes to the working practices of the judiciary, including the establishment of a register of interests. The Minister insisted there was no objection to the proposed move within Government and he expected legislation to be brought forward next year.

Mr Ross also said he had no regrets about criticising members of the judiciary as part of the debate. He had accused them of forgetting their oaths when they enter office and had claimed that the judiciary led a charmed life. The Minister said he accepted the words were “robust” but insisted they had to be said.

He said the language may have been too colourful but claimed he never intended to get “their backs up”.

A spokesman for the Law Society of Ireland said he welcomed the publication of the general scheme of the Bill. However, he said the Law Society had concerns about a number of the provisions, including the chairing of the commission by a lay person.