PART IV

Judicial Appointments

12. —In this Part—

“the Board” means the Board established under section 13 of this Act;

“judicial office” means an office being the office of ordinary judge of the Supreme Court, ordinary judge of the High Court, ordinary judge of the Circuit Court or judge of the District Court (other than the President of the District Court).

13. —(1) For the purposes of identifying persons and informing the Government of the suitability of those persons for appointment to judicial office, there shall be established a body to be known as the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (in this Part referred to as “the Board”).

(2) The Board shall consist of—

(a) (i) the Chief Justice, who shall be the chairperson of the Board,

(ii) the President of the High Court,

(iii) the President of the Circuit Court,

(iv) the President of the District Court,

(v) the Attorney General,

(b) (i) a practising barrister who shall be nominated by the Chairman for the time being of the Council of the Bar of Ireland,

(ii) a practising solicitor who shall be nominated by the President for the time being of the Law Society of Ireland,

and

(c) not more than three persons appointed by the Minister who shall be persons engaged in, or having knowledge or experience (being knowledge or experience that the Minister considers appropriate) of commerce, finance, administration or persons who have experience as consumers of the services provided by the courts that the Minister considers appropriate.

(3) A person appointed to be a member of the Board by virtue of the provisions of subsection (2) (b) and (c) of this section shall be a member of the Board for a period not exceeding 3 years, and any such person so appointed shall be eligible for re-appointment to the Board.

(4) The Board may act notwithstanding a vacancy in its membership.

14. —(1) The Board may adopt such procedures as it thinks fit to carry out its functions under this Act and may establish sub-committees of the Board to assist it.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, the Board may—

(a) advertise for applications for judicial appointment,

(b) require applicants to complete application forms,

(c) consult persons concerning the suitability of applicants to the Board,

(d) invite persons, identified by the Board, to submit their names for consideration by the Board,

(e) arrange for the interviewing of applicants who wish to be considered by the Board for appointment to judicial office, and

(f) do such other things as the Board considers necessary to enable it to discharge its functions under this Act.

15. —(1) On the death or retirement of the Chief Justice, the senior ordinary judge of the Supreme Court who is for the time being available shall be a member of the Board until the appointment of a Chief Justice.

(2) On the death or retirement of the President of the High Court, the senior ordinary judge of the High Court who is for the time being available shall be a member of the Board until the appointment of a President of the High Court.

(3) On the death or retirement of the President of the Circuit Court, the senior judge for the time being available of the judges of the Circuit Court permanently assigned to the Dublin Circuit shall be a member of the Board until the appointment of a President of the Circuit Court.

(4) On the death or retirement of the President of the District Court, the senior judge of the District Court for the time being available of the judges of the District Court permanently assigned to the Dublin Metropolitan District shall be a member of the Board until the appointment of a President of the District Court.

16. —(1) A person who wishes to be considered for appointment to judicial office shall so inform the Board in writing and shall provide the Board with such information as it may require to enable it to consider the suitability of that person for judicial office, including information relating to education, professional qualifications, experience and character.

(2) Subject to section 17 of this Act, on a request made by the Minister, the Board shall—

(a) where a judicial office stands vacant, or

(b) before a vacancy in a judicial office arises,

submit to the Minister the name of each person who has informed the Board of his or her wish to be considered for appointment to that judicial office and the Board shall recommend to the Minister at least seven persons for appointment to that judicial office.

(3) The Board shall provide the Minister with particulars of the education, professional qualifications, experience and character of the persons whom it recommends under this section.

(4) Where fewer than seven persons inform the Board of their wish to be appointed to a judicial office or where the Board is unable to recommend to the Minister, pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, at least seven persons, the Board shall submit to the Minister the name of each person who has informed the Board of his or her wish to be considered for appointment to judicial office and the Board shall recommend to the Minister for appointment to that office such of those persons as it considers suitable for appointment.

(5) Where more than one judicial office in the same court stands vacant, or in advance of more than one vacancy arising in the same court, at the request of the Minister, the Board shall submit to the Minister the name of each person who has informed the Board of his or her wish to be considered for appointment to judicial office and shall recommend to the Minister the names of at least seven persons in respect of each vacancy or such lesser number of names as the Minister shall specify following consultation with the Board.

(6) In advising the President in relation to the appointment of a person to a judicial office the Government shall firstly consider for appointment those persons whose names have been recommended to the Minister pursuant to this section.

(7) The Board shall not submit or recommend the name of a person to the Minister under this section unless the person satisfies the requirements of section 5 (2) (as amended by this Act) of the Act of 1961 (in the case of an appointment to the Supreme Court or High Court), section 17 (2) (as amended by this Act) of the Act of 1961 (in the case of an appointment to the Circuit Court) or section 29 (2) and (3) of the Act of 1961 (in the case of an appointment to the District Court), as regards the proposed appointment, and the Board shall not recommend the name of a person to the Minister unless, in the opinion of the Board, the person—

(a) has displayed in his or her practice as a barrister or solicitor, as the case may be, a degree of competence and a degree of probity appropriate to and consistent with the appointment concerned,

(b) is suitable on grounds of character and temperament,

(c) is otherwise suitable, and

(d) complies with the requirements of section 19 of this Act.

(8) Notice of an appointment to judicial office shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil and the notice shall, if it be the case, include a statement that the name of the person was recommended by the Board to the Minister pursuant to this section.

17. —Where the Government proposes to advise the President to appoint to judicial office a person who is for the time being a judge of the High Court, Circuit Court, District Court or who is eligible for appointment to the Supreme or the High Court under the provisions of paragraphs (c) and (d) of section 5 (2) (as inserted by section 28 of this Act) of the Act of 1961, the provisions of section 16 of this Act shall not apply.

18. —(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) of this section, the Board shall not submit to the Minister the names of any of its own members or recommend for appointment to judicial office any of its own members.

(2) The Board may recommend the Attorney General for appointment to judicial office.

(3) Where the Attorney General wishes to be considered for appointment to judicial office, he or she shall withdraw from any deliberations of the Board concerning his or her suitability for judicial office.

19. —A person who wishes to be considered for appointment to judicial office shall undertake in writing to the Board his or her agreement, if appointed to judicial office, to take such course or courses of training or education, or both, as may be required by the Chief Justice or President of the court to which that person is appointed.

20. —All proceedings of the Board and all communications to the Board shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed except for the purposes of this Act.

21. —The Minister may make available to the Board such services, including staff, as the Minister may determine from time to time with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

22. —The expenses incurred in the administration of this Part of this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

23. —Where the Government proposes to advise the President on an appointment to the office of Chief Justice, President of the High Court, President of the Circuit Court or President of the District Court it shall have regard first to the qualifications and suitability of persons who are serving at that time as judges in courts established in pursuance of Article 34 of the Constitution.