Leo Varadkar ‘did not know the names’ of the other people interested in the role of Seamus Woulfe

TÁNAISTE LEO VARADKAR has told Dáil that he did not know the names of other justices who had expressed interest in the Supreme Court position that ultimately went to Seamus Woulfe.

Faced with questions in the Dáil today about the appointment of the former Attorney General as a judge in the state’s highest court, Varadkar rejected suggestions that Justice Minister Helen McEntee should answer the Dáil’s questions on the matter.

Varadkar said it would be “a bad idea” to discuss the matter in the Dáil, as it could lead to a debate on “the merits and demerits of individual candidates.”

Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty TD asked Varadkar to acknowledge that Woulfe is a “close political ally and friend” of the Tánaiste and asked him about Varadkar’s role in naming Woulfe.

Woulfe was nominated to the Supreme Court in mid-July, several weeks after the Fianna Fail-Fine Gael-Green Party government was formed.

Responding to Doherty’s questions, Varadkar said the previous Fine Gael minority government he led could have filled the court vacancy, but chose not to.

“The vacancy came up in the Supreme Court, I think around February last year, it came up in the spring, I was at that time the Taoiseach of what people described as an interim government. We made the decision not to fill that vacancy, ”Varadkar al Dáil said.

When the new government was being formed, I’m pretty sure it was the week before the new government was formed, the party leaders discussed whether Seamus Woulfe would be re-elected as Attorney General or whether there would be a new Attorney General. . And we collectively decided that there would be a new Attorney General and that Seamus Woulfe would not be re-elected as Attorney General. And at that time, for transparency and for information, I informed the other leaders that there was a vacancy, that Seamus Woulfe had been recommended by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB) as a fit for that vacancy, and that was the end of the day. conversation.

Opposition parties have raised concerns about the selection process after it emerged last week that Cabinet was not told in July that other justices had expressed interest in the vacancy on the Supreme Court before Woulfe was selected.

Speaking today, Varadkar said that he was aware that there were other lists of names potentially suitable for the role, but that he “did not know how many people were on them and did not know the individual names.”

He said that it is normal that only one name reaches the Cabinet.

Co-leader of the Social Democrats, Catherine Murphy, disagreed with Varadkar’s wording choice, saying that JAAB had recommended Woulfe, stating that the board does not rank people based on their suitability.

“It is not JAAB’s role to recommend citations, nor to rank them when there are multiple applications. However, the Taoiseach (sic) has repeatedly told us that a recommendation was made to Cabinet and the recommendation came through the JAAB process, ”he said.

Taoiseach / Tánaiste

Murphy was one of several MPs who mistakenly referred to Varadkar as ‘Taoiseach’, during today’s Leader Questions, including Alan Kelly, Michael McNamara and Bríd Smith, the latter two of whom were corrected.

Varadkar responded to this continuous mistake, which has even been made by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, saying that he is “very Tánaiste.”

“I’m very happy to clear that up for anyone who hasn’t figured that out by now,” he said.