Crucial changes needed to judicial appointments bill, warn experts

Judicial appointments have long been a contentious issue, highlighted most recently in the process whereby former attorney general Seamus Woulfe was appointed to the Supreme Court.

If crucial changes are not made to draft legislation aimed at tackling the controversial issue of judicial appointments, little meaningful change will actually happen, a team of legal experts have warned.

Three leading academics said the Judicial Appointments Commission Heads of Bill 2020 was a “critical opportunity” to fix a process regarded as “flawed” and one that has attracted criticism of political patronage.