Mrs Justice Susan Denham: Ireland’s judiciary has been neglected

In her final address as Chief Justice of Ireland, Mrs Justice Susan Denham said the Irish judiciary “has been the Cinderella of the three sisters — the three great organs of State, the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary”.

Mrs Justice Denham said while “much has been done over the last 18 years on court buildings, the infrastructure for the judiciary itself remains neglected” and recommendations by the Council of Europe went ignored.

For example, she said, a judicial council had not been established despite being discussed for at least two decades.

Mrs Justice Denham added: “The lack of this infrastructure for the judiciary, for example, the Judicial Council, which will be a representative body for the judiciary, and include a training committee, a sentencing committee, an ethics committee, a complaints committee etc, illustrates a neglect of the third branch of government - an absence of an institution which is the norm in other democratic states. This lacuna is so in spite of many years of discussions on the topic.”

However, she said she hoped the current government’s plans to legislate for a judicial council would come to fruiition.

She said: “In conclusion, I have enjoyed the honour and privilege of being a judge of this State. While I have been a judge for 26 years, the time has flown. A ‘sidelong glimpse of something flying past’. So, for the final time, following in the steps of Yeats: ‘I will arise and go now…’”