Press release
Minister McEntee confirms the selection process for the nomination of a new President of the High Court
From Department of the Taoiseach
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of the Taoiseach
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has announced that the government, at its meeting today, has agreed a process for the nomination of a person to be appointed as President of the High Court by the President of Ireland. The current President, the Hon. Ms. Justice Mary Irvine, is due to retire in July 2022.
A non-statutory Advisory Committee will be established to assist with identifying eligible and qualified persons, including serving judges, for the post of President of the High Court. It will consider their suitability and make recommendations to the Minister for Justice on preferred candidates.
The non-statutory Advisory Committee will comprise the Chief Justice, the Attorney General and a lay member and will establish its own procedures for inviting and assessing expressions of interest from applicants, including serving judges.
The procedures of the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB), as set out in the Courts and Courts Officers Act, 1995, as amended, do not apply to the appointment of the President of the High Court.
The approach set out by Minister McEntee follows similar processes to those used for the appointment of the President of the Court of Appeal in 2018, the Presidents of the Circuit Court and the District Court in 2019, the President of the High Court in 2020, the President of the District Court in 2021 and the Chief Justice in 2021.
Section 5 of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act, 1961, as amended, sets out the qualifications required for appointment as President of the High Court.
The Programme for Government provides that the government will introduce legislation to replace the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB) with a new Judicial Appointments Commission with Chief Justice as Chairperson. When established this new Commission will cover the nomination process for appointment to senior judicial positions, including Chief Justice.
The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022 was approved by Government in March 2022 and is now before the Dáil.
The Bill proposes to reform the way judges are appointed and will cover all judicial offices in the Irish courts.