Shane Ross’s judicial appointments bill still causing ructions

Judges are determined to protect the current system of who promotes their peers, while the Fine Gael and Independent Alliance government says reforms will herald a modern system of who is appointed to the bench.

The Government risks a major rift with the country’s judges over what essentially are reforms that were agreed to sweeten last year’s deal with Shane Ross and the Independent Alliance .

The judiciary is rightly concerned about interest groups and non-legal experts deciding on sensitive recommendations on who should join their ranks. But for years, political friends of governments have been promoted while a cabal of judges controlled recommendations to government about who got the call-up.