Clause 3 - Judicial Appointments Commission
Justice (Northern Ireland)
10:18 am
Lady Lady Hermon (North Down, UUP)
I agree. The lay members could be used to address the present imbalance.
Another reason why I want amendment No. 145 to be made is that various pieces of legislation already use the words
representative of the community in Northern Ireland.
The Committee may be surprised to know that, in the recent Evelyn White case, a judge in Northern Ireland interpreted the phrase in relation to the Parades Commission as meaning representative in the sense of Protestant and Catholic, not of men and women, let alone the ethnic minorities.
If the Minister were on good form, he would agree to make amendment No. 145, so that the Bill would state that ''representative'' should apply in terms of gender and ethnicity. If he will not do so, I invite him to say that it is his understanding that
representative of the community in Northern Ireland
applies in terms of not only religion, but gender and ethnicity. Would he like to do so now, before I move on to amendment No. 90?