The OireachtasJustice Committee has disputed the suggestion that Minister for Justice Helen McEntee took questions about the Séamus Woulfe affair during a committee session last week.
Ms McEntee has been under pressure to commit to a full question and answer session in the Dáil on her role in the appointment of Mr Justice Woulfe to the Supreme Court.
Mr Justice Woulfe has been criticised for attending the Oireachtas golf dinner in apparent breach of Covid-19 regulations.
Ms McEntee has committed to addressing the issue during oral parliamentary questions, but this offer has been rejected as insufficient by the opposition, leading to a political row.
In a statement, the committee said that at a meeting on Tuesday, it noted reports in media and elsewhere to the effect that the Minister for Justice took questions on the judicial selection process at a recent meeting of the committee.
It said she had attended a meeting of the justice committee last Tuesday for the purposes of considering annual estimates. This is a statutory function of the committee and essential for passage of the annual budget, it said.
Towards the end of the estimates consideration, a question was put to the Minister on the judicial appointments process. Whilst the chair directed that the question was out of scope for the meeting agenda, he allowed the Minister to offer a brief response which she did. No further questions on the matter were put or taken, the statement continued.
It is an unusual intervention from the committee, which is chaired by James Lawless, the Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North.
It is understood the issue was raised during a private session of the committee on Tuesday, with members discussing claims made by Ms McEntee in the media and by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar in the Dáil. Several were unhappy with the idea that what transpired at the committee last week could be seen as a full question and answer session.
In an interview on RTÉs Six One News last Friday, Ms McEntee, when asked about how she had addressed the issue, said: I have answered questions on this issue in the justice committee.
The previous day, during leaders questions in the Dáil, Mr Varadkar said Ms McEntee answered questions on this matter in a committee the other day.
In a statement on Wednesday, a spokesman for Ms McEntee said: The Minister told the committee she was willing to answer questions and was happy to address this issue when it was raised with her, as the transcript shows.
The Ministers comments on the Six One were made in that context, and in the context of the Minister being happy to answer questions on this issue in the Dáil at a time of the oppositions choosing.
Ms McEntee addressed the issue when it came up during a hearing of the committee last Tuesday, on supplementary estimates for agencies operating under the Department of Justice.
When the matter was raised towards the end of the meeting by Sinn Féins Martin Kenny, Mr Lawless indicated it was out of scope for the session which was convened to scrutinise budget estimate.
However, Ms McEntee said that as it had been raised, I have no problem responding to that if it is appropriate.
Mr Lawless then said the Minister could make a brief statement, in which she said she adhered to a very clear process before bringing Mr Justice Woulfes name to Cabinet in July.
She said she did not want anybody to say that Im refusing to answer questions or to outline the process that led to the appointment.
Ms McEntee said that when she was appointed as Minister, she looked at the recommendation that had been made by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB) which supported the former Attorney Generals application for the role, as well as other expressions of interest.
She said the convention is that one name is only ever brought to Cabinet for judicial or other appointments, and in this instance, that was the name of Mr Justice Woulfe.
She told the committee that the name was approved by Cabinet with a very clear process – as Minister for Justice, I adhered to that process. And the person that was appointed came through an official process, chaired by an independent body (JAAB), chaired by the Chief Justice himself.
There were no follow up questions after her contribution.
In addition to her appearance on RTÉ last Friday, Ms McEntee fielded media questions on the matter earlier this week.
It is understood the committee discussed the matter on Tuesday and formed the view the estimates meeting would not have been the appropriate forum to answer questions on the matter.
Also, members were of the view that the absence of senators from the select committee was an issue on the day, and the agenda circulated in advance made no reference to such a discussion.
A source said that if the committee had convened for the purpose of putting questions to the Minister, it would have been a joint meeting, including senators, and the purpose would have been signalled in advance.
The committee also agreed, at the suggestion of Mr Lawless, to conduct a review of the judicial appointments process in general, as part of its work programme.
