Shane Ross says judges should not control judicial appointments

Judges, lawyers and other legal figures should not control who gets to become a judge, Minister for Transport Shane Ross has said.

Mr Ross said judges should have some input in the process but that the appointments ought to be controlled by independent, lay people.

The Minister was commenting on RTÉ radio after Chief Justice Susan Denham criticised “inaccurate discussion and misrepresentation” in relation to judicial reform.

Mr Ross said the programme for Government sets out a commitment to reform the way judges are selected which would take the process out of the hands of politicians.

He accepted judges also wanted to see the system changed but they wanted the process to be controlled by judges and other legal figures.

“That is a difficulty because I see that as wrong. I don’t see any point of taking it out of the hands of politicians and giving it to judges to appoint people themselves in a very inside way.”

Mr Ross also said he wanted to see a declaration of interests introduced for members of the judiciary.

“Judges are seen to be independent, they’re seen not to have conflicts of interest. We have to break down this kind of mystique that surrounds the judges,” he said.

He added that a declaration of interest would make judges more transparent and it is something that the public expects of the judiciary.

Ms Denham, in remarks to the judges’ conference released through the Courts Service, said the judiciary had been pressing for five years to have the process of judicial appointments reformed and made more transparent, and that for 20 years the judiciary had been asking for, planning and researching a proposed judicial council.

She said it was “surprising” that it had been stated that the judiciary were fighting change “when the opposite is the case – the judiciary have been advocating change, but it has not yet been advanced.”