McEntee insists he had enough experience to make judicial recommendations

The justice minister has rejected any suggestion that she had no experience recommending Seamus Woulfe as a Supreme Court justice.

Helen McEntee confirmed that the former attorney general’s name was the only one she submitted to Green Party leader Taoiseach and Tanaiste for approval in the summer, just three weeks after she was appointed minister.

Ms. McEntee said that she reviewed the suitability of three sitting justices who had expressed interest in filling the vacant Supreme Court seat, but decided that Mr. Woulfe was a better fit for the position.

“The inference here is that because I was not able to do that job for three weeks and I don’t think that’s fair,” the minister told RTÉ.

Ms. McEntee continues to face scrutiny surrounding the process that led to the appointment of Mr. Justice Woulfe and has agreed to answer Dail’s questions on the matter.

However, opposition parties have criticized his proposal to address the matter during a reshuffled late-night ministerial question session, a format that would require questions to be submitted ahead of time and a limit on the amount of TD that could contribute.

Judge Woulfe has become the focus of controversy since attending the ‘golf-gate’ event in Clifden, Co Galway in August, when members of the Oireachtas Golf Society gathered for a dinner organized against the rules. of Covid.

He refused to resign for handling the incident even though Chief Justice Frank Clarke asked him to resign.

As that furor continues, attention has also turned to Ms. McEntee amid questions about whether she should have told the leaders of the three coalition parties the names of all those vying for the vacant judicial seat.

The minister has insisted that all her actions fully comply with the proper procedures.

The name of Mr. Judge Woulfe was proposed to the minister by the independent Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, which assessed him as fit for the position, while the three acting judges registered their expressions of interest through the attorney general’s office.

Ms McEntee said that she had been involved in six judicial appointment processes since she became Minister and on some of those occasions she recommended a name to Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and on others she had proposed several suitable candidates.

“In this case, I gave the name that I recommended that I thought was the best person for the job and I need to be clear about that, I looked at all the names, it is not someone that was randomly selected by me.” she said.

The minister said it took a “number of weeks” to screen all potential candidates in the frame.