Attorney General will sit on new judicial appointments body

The Attorney General will sit on the proposed new Judicial Appointments Commission under proposed Government amendments to the draft legislation, The Irish Times reports.

It comes just weeks after prominent lawyers backed Attorney General Séamus Woulfe SC over his description of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill as a “dog’s dinner”.

The Cabinet will today consider a series of amendments to be tabled at the report stage, which would add the Attorney General and the presidents of the Circuit and District Courts to the commission.

The amendments will aim to mitigate criticism from the judiciary over the commission’s controversial lay chair and majority. A further lay member will be added to retain the lay majority on a 17-person commission.