The BarJournal of the Bar of IrelandReview .Volume 10 . Issue 6 .December 2005 • A Comment on the Maritime Safety Act, 2005 • Barristers and Immunity from Suit • Delay in Sexual Offence Cases BarThe Review Volume 10,Issue 6, December 2005, ISSN 1339 - 3426 Contents 182 You Be the Judge Part II Jennifer Carroll Editorial Correspondence to: Eilis Brennan BL, 189 A Comment on the Maritime Safety Act, 2005. The Editor, Glen Gibbons BL Bar Review, Law Library, Four Courts, Dublin 7 193 Legal Update: DX 813154 A Guide to Legal Developments from Telephone: 353-1-817 5505 Fax: 353-1-872 0455 10th October 2005 up to 22nd November 2005. e-mail: [email protected] Editor: Eilis Brennan BL 209 A Bar to Recovery? Barristers, Public Policy, and Immunity from Suit Editorial Board: Paul Gallagher SC Ray Ryan BL and Des Ryan (Chairman, Editorial Board) 214 Clarifying The Law On Delayed Prosecutions For Sexual Offences Gerry Durcan SC Brian Conroy BL Mary O’Toole SC Patrick Dillon Malone BL 218 The Central Criminal Court - The Limerick Experience Conor Dignam BL Adele Murphy BL The Honourable Mr. Justice Paul Carney Brian Kennedy BL Vincent Browne BL Mark O’Connell BL Paul A. McDermott BL Tom O’Malley BL Patrick Leonard BL Paul McCarthy BL Des Mulhere The Bar Review is published by Thomson Round Hall in association with The Bar Council of Ireland. 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Sweet & Maxwell James O’Reilly SC Telephone: + 44 20 7393 7000 Gerard Hogan SC James Nugent SC The Bar Review December 2005 Design: the Design Room T: 497 9022 Cover Illustration: Brian Gallagher T: 497 3389 E: [email protected] W: www.bdgart.com December 2005 - Page 181 BarReview You Be the Judge Part II The Politics and Processes of Judicial Appointments in Ireland1 Jennifer Carroll In this way the actual power over selection of individuals for judicial This article is the second in a series taken from the author's M.A. thesis appointments is considered to rest with the government of the day. on the Irish Judiciary. This thesis set out to update the 1969 Paul Charles Bartholomew study on the social, economic and political backgrounds of The Politics of Judicial Appointments Irish Judges by performing a similar study on the Judges of the High and Supreme Courts in Ireland in 2004. The results of this study are outlined Historically, judicial appointments in Ireland were governed by the in the first article of this series, available in the November 2005 edition informal aspect of the appointments process - that of political of this publication. allegiances. This element of judicial appointments dates back to before the formation of the state as, during the 19th century, many of the Part of the original work done by Bartholomew was an analysis of the barristers appointed to the Irish Bench had either been Members of political circumstances surrounding the appointment of judges and Parliament in the Westminster Parliament, or served as Attorney General accordingly, something similar was attempted in 2004. The author or some other law officer in Ireland5. situated the study in the context of an analysis of how judges came to be appointed - the judicial selection system in Ireland. Recognising the It is widely accepted that the influence of political allegiances on judicial subtleties and variances in perception of the author and contributors, appointments continued in post-1937 Ireland. this article attempts to present some limited findings on the political intricacies that exist in the appointment of Superior Court judges in "Because of the efforts of the first Cumann na nGaedheal Ireland today. government, most public appointments were excluded from political influence, but jobbery had become a feature of Irish politics in The article will focus on the process of judicial appointments and the relation to the small range of posts that remained outside the efforts that have been made to reduce the element of political purview of the Civil Service Commission and the Local Appointments allegiances, or at least create a credible perception of same. In order to Commission, posts such as local authority gangers, rate collectors, do this, it will examine the establishment of the Judicial Appointments vocational teachers, government messengers, and - in a genteel way! Advisory Board (JAAB) and the functions and operation of the JAAB. It - judges.6" will assess the criteria for consideration by the Board and suggest some possible limitations of the Board. Essentially, this article will argue that Gallagher7 states that the process has been essentially informal but the current remit of the Board, in recommending seven names to the secret, and that political connections have played a major role. Government in respect of each judicial vacancy, is much too wide for the Gallagher8 cites Ruairí Quinn9 as saying that although judges are JAAB to achieve its ostensible function, that of removing political appointed by the government, in practice only the Taoiseach and patronage in appointments. This article will argue, based on the Minister for Justice (together with other party leaders in the case of a suggestions of its contributors, that it would be more appropriate for the coalition) are involved in the selection, the rest of the government Board to recommend only three names in respect of each vacancy. simply being informed of the name of the chosen person. A record of support for the political party in power has been considered to be a Judicial Selection in Ireland consistent feature of those appointed. One contributor to the You Be the Judge study remarked that it was: "Judges in Ireland share a number of characteristics with their counterparts abroad: they are not elected and they enjoy substantial "...fairly universally understood that the system was political. On the autonomy from control or scrutiny by elected representatives. In other hand, this did not mean that the appointments were necessarily Ireland, the power of judges to interpret the constitution makes them bad appointments. It's just that some individuals who might have been even more powerful than judges in other countries.2" appointed were excluded on the basis of not being aligned with the party in power. But on the whole, the quality of the appointments was Judicial selection in Ireland is by judicial appointment3. The President good and the system worked reasonably well." makes the formal appointment through the presentation of seals of In his 1969 study of the Irish Judiciary, Bartholomew10 was very clearly office to those appointed. However this power, pursuant to Article 13.9 of the view that political allegiances had a substantial influence on of the Constitution, is exercised "only on the advice of the government"4. 1 The author is deeply appreciative to all those that participated in and made contributions to this study. In 2 Coakley and Gallagher (2004), Ch. 3 particular the study could not have been completed without the support of The Honourable Mr. Justice Ronan 3 Bunreacht na hEireann Article 35.1 Keane, Chief Justice and The Honourable Mr. Justice Joseph Finnegan, President of the High Court. The author 4 Byrne and McCutcheon (1996) pp. 118 is also grateful for the contributions made by Professor Tom Garvin, Head of Department of Politics, UCD; Dr. 5 Byrne and McCutcheon (1996) pp. 121 Garret Fitzgerald, Chancellor of National University of Ireland; Dr. Gerard Hogan FTCD Senior Counsel; Dr. 6 FitzGerald (2001) pp. 72 Jacqueline Hayden, Department of Political Science, Trinity College Dublin; Mr. Brendan Ryan, Director, Courts 7 Coakley and Gallagher (2004) Ch. 3 Service; Professor Kevin McGuire, Fulbright Scholar, University of North Carolina. She would especially like to 8 Ibid, Ch. 3 thank all of the Judges of the High and Supreme Courts in Ireland in 2004 for their time and interest in 9 Minister in the 1993-4 Government, Dáil Éireann; Select Committee on Legislation and participating in the study, their helpful comments and suggestions on which it based, and their extraordinary Security, 1995, columns 937,981, 17 January 1995 generosity, kindness and welcome for a novice researcher with her myriad of errors! December 2005 - Page 182 BarReview judicial appointments. Some of his comments must be included in full to political element of appointments disappeared with some spectacular demonstrate the vehemence with which he puts forward his findings as cross-party appointments in the late 1970's and early 1980's. He further regards the relationship between political allegiances and judicial commented that, although technically it is the Minister for Justice who appointments. makes the nomination, in reality the advice of the Attorney General has been persuasive because he tended to know the candidates. "A general consensus exists that there are no promises of judgeships for party service and this same consensus holds that no appointments Some of the judges in the 2004 study commented that it was very hard are made of those unqualified for the judicial posts...This is not to say to know what factors affected judicial appointments because it can that the best person available is always named but that usually those depend on factors like whether the Taoiseach of the day takes an named are of judicial calibre. interest. Some have left it entirely to the Attorney General.