Depoliticising judicial appointments fundamentally delegitimises them

Shane Ross’s Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2016 is part of a broader agenda, writes Gerard Howlin.

The furore about Shane Ross’s bill, now tethered to Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, centres on the proposal to have judges selected by a lay majority sitting on a quango. The epicentre of the row is wide of the mark by a mile.

But that’s an Irish thing. It’s an important issue, but a secondary one. Too late, and invidiously, in light of the supposed recent tendency of the judge-dominated Judicial Appointments Advisory Board to shorten the lists of eligible candidates sent to the Government for appointment, senior judges have complained.