Jennifer C McNeill, The Politics of Judicial Selection in Ireland
| Date | 01 January 2018 |
| Published date | 01 January 2018 |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2018.0479 |
| Pages | 181-182 |
The “First adventure of the Common Law” as a writer in the Law Quarterly Review once dubbed it, has left an indelible mark on the Irish legal system. Post-independence the system retained most of the features of the colonial period. This applied to the process of selecting judges where, until the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995, judicial appointments were made by the President on the advice of the government without any formal selection procedure as was the case in the UK until even later. Like many aspects of the legal system there was little research on it. Almost fifty years ago Professor Bartholomew published a seminal study on the social backgrounds, career profiles and modes of appointment of the senior judiciary and in 2004 the author of this book built on that work with a similar study. In this book the author focuses on the selection process bringing insights from both law and political science to the study.
Chapter 1 sets the Irish experience in the context of judicial selection procedures in democratic Common Law countries showing the wide diversity of methods employed. It also explores the reasons which lead to reform in this area. Its “central argument is that institutional reform that reduces the discretion of government requires intentionally fashioned institutional design that is backed by strong political commitment”. Unlike those in most other countries the 1995 reforms in Ireland were not the result of a period of public debate and wide consultation. Until then there had been little interest in the topic which suddenly flared into life as the result of a political crisis concerning the appointment of the Attorney General to the High Court. This was the last straw for the junior partners in a coalition government who for other reasons were becoming increasingly disenchanted with their political allies and demanded reform of the system. Before agreed reform could be enacted that coalition collapsed but a year later a different coalition created the current system. The new system reduced government discretion though by less than other countries that also reformed their systems, notably England and Wales, and Scotland. However, by the time reform was enacted political enthusiasm had cooled which probably explains some of the weaknesses of the system.
The President still formally appoints judges on the advice of the government but the 1995 Act created the Judicial Appointment Advisory Board (“JAAB”) dominated by the legal profession. The...
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