Government ‘holds discretion’ to appoint judges - Minister

The Government "holds the discretion" to make judicial appointments if necessary, in advance of legislation to reform the system, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has said.

Her comments are at odds with the position of Independents in Government, including her Cabinet colleague, Minister for Transport Shane Ross.

He has been definitive that, as part of the Independent Alliance agreement with the Government, there will be no more judges appointed until after new legislation to reform the system is passed.

The Judicial Appointments Bill is expected to include provision for an independent body, the judicial appointments commission, with an independent chair and a non-legal majority to select shortlists for appointment.

It is not expected to reach the first stage, which would involve publication of the “heads of Bill” outlining the general intention of each section, until next month. It is also unlikely the legislation will be passed until well into next year at the earliest.

Court of Appeal

Senior members of the judiciary have asked for more judges to be appointed to the Court of Appeal to ease backlogs there.

Earlier this month, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil that the Government needed to appoint a small number of judges to the Court of Appeal immediately due to a backlog in the court. However, a few hours later, his spokesman said there were no plans to appoint any new judges.

Speaking on Monday morning, Ms Fitzgerald said the “preferred position” was that the Judicial Appointments Bill would be brought forward and “that the next set of judicial appointments would be made under that legislation”.

But she would “continue to examine the needs of justice”.

“The Government, of course, always holds the discretion to make an appointment if that becomes necessary,” she said.

The Minister also said the new legislation was “a priority”.