Seven judicial appointments promised for last May have not yet been made, the Chief Justice said on Monday.
Five judges have yet to be appointed to the High Court bench and two to the Circuit Court by the Government and the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell said.
He was speaking at a new secular ceremony at the Four Courts to mark the start of the new legal year. Previously, the start of the new legal year has been marked by two religious services.
The Chief Justice said that earlier this year saw the delivery of the long-awaited Report of the Judicial Planning Working Group, (JPWG) which was an interdepartmental group with members from key government departments and two observers from the judiciary.
Ireland, he said, has consistently had the lowest number of judges per capita of the 46 members of the Council of Europe.
Mr Justice O’Donnell said he thought all involved were weary of the depressing cycle of senior judges complaining about the lack of judges and central government officials retorting that judicial numbers had only just been increased.
He said an OECD study was also commissioned to examine how many judges were needed. The report’s conclusions, he said, were “really quite dramatic” in that it found Ireland needed between 60 and 108 additional judges over the next five years.
“This figure must be understood in context: at the time of the report’s publication, there were in total 172 judges in Ireland. I would like to acknowledge that the report has been accepted in full by the Government. That is a really welcome development and a clear demonstration of commitment to and support for the administration of justice in Ireland,” he said.
He added: “A number of the judges recommended in the first tranche of appointments have now been appointed. However, the pace of delivery has been slower than initially promised, and we are still awaiting five appointments in the High Court and two in the Circuit Court which were expected in May.”
The Chief Justice said “inevitably this slows down the pace of developments and causes delay and frustration,” but it was his hope that the appointments will be made as soon as possible.
Unprecedented
He said it was worth mentioning that the scale of these judicial appointments is unprecedented and has already delivered positive impacts above and beyond the provision of much-needed numbers – “most obviously in accelerating a trend of bringing younger lawyers onto the bench”.
He said this naturally introduces welcome energy and enthusiasm to the system, and it would be a real pity if that spirit was not supported, encouraged and built upon.
The Chief Justice said they must take this opportunity to catch up on years of under-resourcing and try to provide a system of administration of justice worthy of a modern society in the 21st century.
“And that simply cannot be done with nineteenth century infrastructure. This is all acknowledged in the JPWG report, and I hope that the commitment to implementing the recommendations will be followed through in these areas as well,” he added.
He said he hoped the JPWG report can be seen in time as an important and decisive step change in the relationship between the courts and central government on the question of resources.
“I hope that the speedy acceptance by the Government of the report and the commencement of its implementation is a recognition of the fact that the courts system has, for far too long, been significantly under-resourced, and that that position requires to be remedied not just to the point of judicial numbers, but also in the areas of judicial support, technology, infrastructure, and accommodation,” he added.
