Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) Seanad Éireann — 2023-05-17 ============================================================ James Browne (FF), Wexford Amendments Nos. 12 a , 12 b and 12 c are grouped. These amendments seek to amend section 13 of the Bill. Section 13 provides for the manner of selection and appointment of lay members to the commission. Lay members are selected by the PAS and appointed by the Minister. The criteria, that is, the knowledge and experience required of lay members, are set out in this section. I thank the Senators for their comments. Amendment No. 12 a proposes to delete the words "are suitable for appointment" and substitute "should be appointed" in subsection 1. Amendment No. 12 b has the same effect in subsection 2 while No. 12 c is related. Amendments Nos. 12 a and 12 b both deal with the nature of the recommendation to be made by the PAS and would appear to impute the view of the PAS that, more than simply being suitable for appointment, the recommended persons should be appointed. It is interesting that it is not being suggested that the Minister shall appoint the recommended persons. This makes sense as it is not inconceivable that at one particular time PAS could recommend more than four laypersons for four positions. If there is just one position, for example, more than one layperson might be recommended for it. If two were recommended, clearly two people could not be appointed to one position. While there is no particular expectation that the public appointments system will recommend more than the number that is required, this could not be ruled out and makes perfect sense if it was the case that two excellent candidates were recommended in respect of a single vacancy. We would be disappointed if there was not a significant level of interest in these positions and numbers of eminently suitable persons. I suggest, therefore, that the Senator's suggested formula is not practical and is unnecessary. We are leaving it to PAS to put the best persons forward. These are the persons who will be appointed by the Minister or the appointment will be made from such persons. If it is the case that more recommendations than the exact number of vacancies are submitted, it would be by no means exceptional that PAS, in equivalent circumstances, would recommend more persons than there are vacancies. I see no reason, if any latitude or choice is available - and this may not always be the case - why the Minister of the day should not have an element of discretion. This is not unique. All of the persons must be suitable, fit, proper and qualified. Laypersons of the sentencing committee and the conduct committee of the Judicial Council are recommended by PAS for appointment by the Government. It is then a matter for the Government to appoint persons from among those recommended. The suitability criteria for the commission of appointments will be rigorous, as the Bill provides, and the House can have confidence that the appropriate appointments will be made. Therefore, I cannot support amendments Nos. 12 a or 12 b . I also cannot support amendment No. 12 c , which would delete from subsection 5 the words "appoint lay members from among the persons" and substitute "appoint as". It is reflecting the approach the Senators are taking in amendments Nos. 12 a or 12 b , essentially providing that the persons recommended are to be appointed and that while it is perhaps likely that there will be an exact number of recommendations for the position available, it can never be otherwise. I have indicated that I do not agree with this train of thought. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2023-05-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:54+00:00 Sitting date: 2023-05-17