Judges called for independent body to govern pay and conditions

The Association of Judges of Ireland (AJI) called last year for the establishment of an independent body to govern judges’ pay, terms and conditions, the Irish Independent reports.

The newspaper has seen letters sent by AJI president Mr Justice George Birmingham to Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe last May.

Mr Justice Birmingham told the minister that judicial pensions were “not nearly as attractive as might appear at first glance”, and recent changes had “impacted adversely on the ability to attract applicants from the very best potential candidates”.

He added: “As the economy strengthens, and with it the market for legal services, that situation can only be expected to worsen.”

The period of service required for judges (other than District Court judges) to qualify for a full pension was increased from 15 years to 20 years following the financial crisis, and the contribution rate was raised from 4 per cent to 13 per cent for newly-appointed judges.

Meanwhile, The Irish Times reports that Mr Justice Birmingham also wrote to Taoiseach Enda Kenny in 2015 to lobby him to continue appointing former European judges to the Irish bench.

In the letter, he said the Association “would never seek to influence the appointment or reappointment of particular individuals”, but encouraged Mr Kenny to keep up the practice whereby Irish judges appointed in Europe would have “their term of office … renewed, if that was an option or alternatively, that when their term in office came to an end that they would be then appointed to the bench in Ireland”.

The letter likely referred to Ann Power, an Irish judge on the European Court of Human Rights who resigned in October 2014. She was not appointed to the Irish bench on her return to Ireland.