Shane Ross has accused judges of looking to take over the power of appointing judges - in order to promote their own "cronies".

It's after the Chief Justice said the judiciary itself were not to blame for a delay in reforming the system of judges' appointments.

The transport minister has been demanding that the system be overseen by lay people - and last week suggested judges themselves were resisting an overhaul of the system.

However, in a weekend speech, she said: "It is surprising that it has been stated that the Judiciary are fighting change, when the opposite is the case – the judiciary have been advocating change, but it has not yet been advanced."

The position was acknowledged this afternoon in a tweet by the transport minister.

However, Ross then claimed that judges were seeking to take on the power of appointments for themselves, in order to promote their own 'cronies':

Chief Justice is right:Judges want reform;Take patronage of cronies from politicians.Hand it over to judges instead!Out of frying pan ....

— Shane Ross (@Shane_RossTD) November 21, 2016

Social Democrats leader Catherine Murphy says the Minister Ross is wrong to blame judges - and needs to bring his battle to government.

Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly earlier filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News: