Ex-justice minister McDowell claims pay cuts harming Irish judiciary

Former justice minister Senator Michael McDowell has said the quality of the Irish judiciary has declined because of pay cuts.

Mr McDowell - a barrister who was justice minister from 2002-07 in Bertie Ahern’s government - told The Irish Times that a number of “economic factors” had led to a decline in quality.

He added: “If we allow the quality of the judiciary to decline, we will suffer economically and internationally in the long run as far as our reputation is concerned.”

He called on Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald to “to deal with the fundamental question of how we keep excellence in judicial appointments as the first criterion for appointment”.

He also challenged the popular view that judicial appointments should not be political, saying: “If this means party political, I agree completely, but if it means political in the other sense, I disagree fundamentally.

“The persons put on the Supreme Court are chosen for their outlook, their ideology, and by refernce to a number of issues which are political in another sense.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice told Irish Legal News that the Department has no comment, except to say that Ms Fitzgerald “has consistently made it clear that we have been particularly well served by the Judiciary down through the decades, and this has been recognised internationally”.