Government urged to expedite end of two-tier judicial pay structure

The Government has been urged to speed up efforts to scrap a two-tier pay structure for Irish judges.

Legislation approved in 2014 provided for a two-year “phasing out” of the pay arrangement whereby judges appointed after January 2012 are paid 10 per cent less than those already serving on the bench.

After a 2011 referendum removing the ban on slashing judges’ pay was approved, judicial remuneration was reduced for sitting judges and further still for newly appointed judges.

The Irish Times reports the Association of Judges of Ireland has now called for the pay scales to be unified “with immediate effect”.

Mr Justice George Birmingham of the Court of Appeal, president of the Association, said public expenditure minister Brendan Howlin should use a provision within recent emergency legislation to give the order a retrospective effect.

In a letter, he said: “In other words, we are urging that should receive credit for their service to date.”