I wish to clarify a point raised by Deputy Howlin earlier. Did the Taoiseach say in reply to Deputy Howlin that the Government intends not to fill any vacancies on the Bench until such time as he gets an agreement on the new system of appointing judges? Is that the position?

No. What I said was that there are a small number of judicial positions that are vacant. I do not intend to bring names to Government for appointment to fill those small number of positions. My focus is on introducing a new way of appointing members of the Judiciary under legislation currently being drafted for the judicial appointments commission. I said yesterday that we cannot have a situation where an excessive backlog builds up in the courts and the judicial system comes to a halt. In the meantime, there are a very small number of positions vacant now but it is not my intention to bring names to Government. I intend to follow through as quickly as I can with the production of the legislation for the judicial appointments commission. When the last few judges were appointed, we assumed that would be the last series of appointments under the old system. The appointments commission legislation is complicated enough.