Pay cuts for judges could save €5.5m, says Minister

MEMBERS OF the judiciary will face pay cuts ranging from 16.3 per cent to 23.2 per cent if next month’s referendum is passed, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has revealed.

The State would save €5.5 million, he added.

The chief justice’s salary would be reduced from €295,916 to €227,168, and that of the president of the High Court from €274,779 to €211,088, a reduction of 23.2 per cent in both cases.

A Supreme Court judge’s salary would go from €257,872 to €198,226. That of the president of the Circuit Court would go from €249,418 to €191,794, a High Court judge from €243,080 to €186,973, president of the District Court from €183,894 to €146,885 and a Circuit Court judge from €177,554 to €141,892 – a reduction in each case of 20.1 per cent.

A District Court judge’s salary would fall from €147,961 to €123,881, a reduction of 16.3 per cent.

Introducing the Twenty-Ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Judges’ Remuneration) Bill 2011, paving the way for the referendum, Mr Shatter said the Government was approaching the issue from the point of view of fundamental fairness.

“Our strong view is that, far from attacking judicial independence, the proposed amendment is designed to strengthen and uphold the standing of the judiciary and ensure that, at a time of unprecedented fiscal and economic difficulty, members of the judiciary are not perceived as an elite group immune to the current crisis who either will not or cannot contribute their fair share, in common with all others paid from the public purse,” he added.

Mr Shatter said he believed the proposed amendment struck a balance between the traditional protection afforded to judges’ pay and allowing for the very difficult position in which Ireland now found itself.

Some countries, including the United States, had overcome the difficulty over unfairness presented by the blanket protection of judicial salaries by allowing them to decrease in line with inflation or other public service increases, he said.

“This explains to some extent why Irish judges are among the best paid internationally, but in my view it was not a valid approach given the importance of the judiciary as an institution of the State,” he added.

Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Dara Calleary welcomed the Bill and the referendum but opposed the guillotining of the legislation.

It was important to point out that 126 of the 147 serving judges in 2010 took voluntary reductions in line with the decreases resulting from the pension-related deductions in the general public and civil service, he said.

“So the actual savings from this referendum measure will be very little,” Mr Calleary added.

Sinn Féin spokesman Jonathan O’Brien said there was a perception some judges were not living in the real world.

“In these tough economic times, it does send out a clear message that even members of the judiciary have a responsibility to pull their weight,” he added.

Maureen O’Sullivan (Ind) said she accepted the need for an independent judiciary, “but surely that is not related to remuneration”.

Shane Ross (Ind) said judges were on a pedestal, believing their own propaganda.

“Judges are politically appointed, often for blatantly political reasons,” he added.