Courts and Court Officers Act, 2002

Annual Report of Judicial Appointments Advisory Board.

11.—The Act of 1995 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 20:

“20A.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, the Board shall, as soon as may be, but not later than 6 months, after the end of each year, make a report in writing to the Minister of its activities during that year, and the Minister shall cause copies of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(2) The first report under subsection (1) of this section shall be in respect of the period from the passing of the Courts and Court Officers Act, 2002, to the end of the year in which that Act is passed.

(3) The Minister may, after consultation with the Board, give directions to it regarding the form of a report under this section and the manner in which any matter is to be addressed in such a report.

(4) Subject to subsection (5) of this section, the Board shall include in a report under this section such information relating to the performance of its functions as the Minister may from time to time specify and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, it may include information on one or more of the following:

(a) the number of persons considered by the Board for appointment to each vacancy in a judicial office in the Supreme Court, the High Court, the Circuit Court and the District Court respectively in the period concerned,

(b) the gender, professional qualifications and experience of the persons referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection in relation to each such vacancy,

(c) the gender, professional qualifications and experience of persons appointed to a judicial office in the period concerned,

(d) the procedures of the Board for examining applications for appointment to a judicial office,

(e) the criteria used by the Board to select the persons it recommended to the Minister under section 16 of this Act.

(5) A report under this section shall not include information that discloses, or is likely to disclose, the identity of any person who was considered by the Board in relation to an appointment to a judicial office and was not appointed to such an office.”.