Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman threatened resignation over judicial pay referendum
Reading time: 1 minute
The late Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman of the Supreme Court threatened to resign if the 2011 referendum on allowing reductions in judicial salaries went ahead, a new book reveals.
Mr Justice Hardiman’s dramatic move was intended to put pressure on Government ministers who wanted to remove the Constitution’s prohibition on reducing judges’ salaries.
The referendum went ahead and the slashing of judges’ salaries was endorsed with 80 per cent in favour on a 56 per cent turnout.
Mr Justice Hardiman did not step down in the aftermath.
Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, former legal affairs correspondent at The Irish Times, includes the revelation in his new book The Supreme Court, which is to be published by Penguin Ireland on Monday.
Extracts from the book will be published in The Irish Times tomorrow.
It details much of the internal politics of the judiciary ahead of the 2011 referendum, which came in the wake of the Irish financial crisis.
Share this article:
Subscribe to our newsletter to not miss articles like this one:
SUBSCRIBE
