NUMBER one: All judges are appointed by the President pursuant to Article 35.1 of the Constitution.

Number two: The President can only exercise this power on ‘the advice of the Government,’ according to Article 13.9.

You don’t have be a genius in deductive reasoning to realise that this means the Government appoints judges. Simple.

Little wonder then that the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, which clearly interferes with the Government’s manifest right to name judges, is creating such a kerfuffle in the Supreme Court.

The bill was referred there by President Michael D Higgins because it contained a provision that the Government, in appointing judges, must restrict its choice to the three candidates recommended by the Appointments Commission.

Call me old-fashioned, but it’s impossible to restrict a right, without emptying it of substance. So if words mean anything, it’s extremely likely that the Supreme Court will find this audacious bill unconstitutional and be done with it.

The bill is part of an anti-government, pseudo liberalism of recent decades which, in fact, is classically anti-democratic. It’s the people of Ireland who put the government there, and those wishing to oust the government authority and duty in appointing judges are really attempting to oust the sovereign authority of regular people. Lefty liberals don’t like people, because they don’t trust them, because they fear they can’t control them.

So ask yourself this: If the Government shouldn’t be the ones to appoint judges, who should it be? Should it be unelected elites including those who couldn’t care less about regular people, or the Government who are at least answerable to all of us and can be kicked out at the next election?