The controversial Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017 is to be enacted within the first six months of the proposed new government, but with amendments including making the chief justice the body’s chair. The commitment in the proposed programme for government appears to bring to an end the effort of the outgoing minister, Shane Ross, to create a judicial appointments commission chaired by someone who was not a judge. Key demands made by Mr Ross included that the new appointments body would have a majority of “lay” or non-legal members, and that it would not be chaired by the chief justice of the day. The family law court would seek to promote a less adversarial approach to resolving disputes and the planning court would model itself on the specialist commercial court. The incoming government will “clarify and strengthen contempt of court sanctions for violations on social media”, according to the programme.

Source: The Irish Times June 17, 2020 00:22 UTC