Judicial separation of powers
Deputy Healy-Rae welcomes the Taoiseach's statement, stressing the constitutional importance of maintaining a high threshold for removing judges and protecting separation between the House and the Judiciary.
On behalf of the Rural Independent Group, our leader, Deputy Mattie McGrath, stated at the time that he believed a clear separation between this House and the Judiciary was very important. Therefore, I welcome the statement the Taoiseach has made today. It is important to reiterate here on the record of the House that the standard set down regarding the removal of a judge, or anything like that, is a deliberately high constitutional standard. That is so important, and it is important for us to uphold that separation. I take on board what Deputy Kelly has said about ensuring the separation of powers is never misused. I agree that it works both ways.s That is why I believe it is important and imperative that the Minister for Justice should come before the House at some stage that would be deemed to be appropriate to answer questions in a comprehensive way. At the same time, it must be taken into account that it is very important that a transparent and comprehensive process, as has already been stated, is undertaken by the Judiciary. As the leader of Sinn Féin has said, this is a problematic situation. Like every political or constitutional challenge we have ever had, it just takes a bit of common sense and work to work our way through it in a proper fashion.