“Will tomorrow’s judges reflect the diversity of Ireland today?” is the question being asked at a top-level seminar in Dublin tomorrow evening (18 September 2008).
Judicial office should only ever be held by lawyers of the highest calibre, and this is the case in Ireland. However, today’s judges studied law and trained many decades ago.
Changes in Irish society in recent years are now prompting questions about whether enough is being done to ensure greater diversity on the Bench in the future.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has invited the Chairman of the United Kingdom’s Judicial Appointments Commission, Baroness Usha Prahsar, to speak about her own experience in promoting diversity in judicial appointments in the United Kingdom.
Speaking in advance of the event, ICCL Director Mr Mark Kelly said:
“A diverse judiciary should be a cornerstone of a modern democracy. The nature of judicial appointments dictates that this is unlikely to happen unless proactive steps are taken to render our current system more inclusive. The ICCL wishes to play its part in ensuring that our future judges are both lawyers of the highest calibre, and more reflective of the rich pool of potential talent available in modern Ireland”.
The seminar, entitled, Judicial Diversity: Strategies for Change will be chaired by the Hon. Mr. Justice Bryan McMahon, High Court Judge and Adjunct Professor to the Faculty of Law, UCC. The keynote speaker will be Baroness Usha Prashar CBE, Chair of the United Kingdom’s Judicial Appointments Commission. Other speakers include: Professor Kate Malleson, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London and Dermot Feenan, School of Law, University of Ulster.