This is a matter of fundamental constitutional importance and I am not anxious to just abridge the debate by shoving everything together having one speech and the like. No, I am not prepared to do that.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 5, lines 14 to 22, to delete all words from and including “to” where it secondly occurs in line 14 down to and including “Europe;” in line 22.

This amendment has the purpose of removing from the Long Title of the Bill words contained at lines 14 to 22. Those words are as follows: ... to provide for the aforementioned matters having regard to the recommendation of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) that the system of selection, recommendation and promotion of judges target the appointments to the most qualified and suitable candidates in a transparent way, and having regard to Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)12 of the Committee o…

I listened carefully to what the Minister of State has said, which included the phrase "contrary to the rule of law". What rule of law? The Commission of the European Union is not competent to determine the law of the European Union. It is not its function to do so. Even though it may have rows with the Polish state about amendments to the manner in which Polish judges hold their office and the tenure accorded to them, the simple fact is that the Commission of the European Union has no function in directing that th…

I move amendment No. 4: In page 10, to delete lines 26 to 33, and in page 11, to delete lines 1 to 7 and substitute the following: “Membership of Commission 9. (1) The Commission shall consist of 9 members, subject to section 45 , being— (a) the Chief Justice, (b) subject to subsection (2) , the President of the Court of Appeal, (c) 2 members of the Judicial Council nominated and appointed in accordance with section 12 , (d) the Attorney General, (e) 2 lay members appointed under section 13 , and (f) 2 members, one…

Amendments Nos. 4 and 16 are related and I propose to speak to both at this point. The present proposal in the Bill is that there should be a nine-member commission, that four of those members can be members of the Judiciary and that four should be laypersons selected in the manner provided for in the Bill. The present wording of section 9 reads: The Commission shall consist of 9 members, subject to section 45, being— (a) the Chief Justice, (b) subject to subsection (2) , the President of the Court of Appeal, (c) 2…

I am interested in what the Minister of State has said about the transparent and well-trusted method of appointing the lay members because, unfortunately, his remarks do not reflect the reality of the intention of the Government. Section 13, in respect of the proposed selection of lay members, states that the Minister will ask the Public Appointments Service "to undertake a selection process." Then, under subsection (2), the Public Appointments Service undertakes a selection process in accordance with the selection…

Yes, it could do that. It could come up with 12 and bring those names to the Minister. Subsection (5) states that "the Minister shall appoint lay members from among the persons recommended by the Public Appointments Service under subsection (2) ." We now have a situation where the Minister, who is depriving the Government of the right to choose its own people for the Judiciary, accords the Minister of the day the right to select from all the people who pass the test of suitability at the Public Appointments Service…

There are two matters I want to deal with today, the first of which is in relation to what Senator Burke was said about the alcohol legislation that was debated at great length in this House. Most of it was nonsense, to be honest. We have not yet put the unit price of alcohol in place and there will not be one unless there is an Assembly in Northern Ireland that will do the same on the Northern side of the Border, because it would have a devastating effect on off-licenses in the Border counties if there were to be …

I think Senator Gavan will be allowed leave.

It is important to bear in mind that keeping the lights on is an important immediate policy aim and obligation of government. Whatever one might say about long-term strategy, and I intend to say a few words about that too, keeping the lights on on an emergency basis is an imperative for government. We have to be practical in how we achieve that aim. On the long-term strategy, Senator Dooley will recall that five, six or seven years ago, at the joint committee that dealt with energy at the time, I consistently deman…

I did not say that.

Yes, everyone is paraphrasing me incorrectly, as the record will show.

Briefly, I never said it did not matter what we did in Ireland. Needless to say, those who wanted to hear me say that have heard me say it, but I did not say it.

What I said - I want the Minister of State to be clear on this - was that what we did in Ireland was, in the context of other developments internationally, including in terms of methane, not going to prevent the melting of glaciers in an emergency situation. I believe that the Attorney General has given the Government good advice on this occasion and that the phraseology of the proposed new section 82D is reasonable and defensible. I wish to put on the record why it is necessary that this be done. I presume it is b…

I am finished now.

I am not taking offence. I just wanted to correct the record.

A couple of different points arise on the section that I want to ask a couple of simple questions on. Persons will be considered legal academics if they have been in a place equivalent to an Irish university but outside of Ireland. As a matter of law, is there a requirement that a person should be an Irish citizen? It is not necessary to be an Irish citizen to be, say, a barrister or solicitor, subject to what Senator Ward would say. Is it to be the case that a professor of law in Oxford can, although a subject of …

-----that we should be trying to get people of high quality into the Judiciary and not closing off options and knocking people off the list of potential applicants for no good reason.

I told you.