IRELAND HAS SOME of the best paid judges in Europe, a new report has found.

The gross annual salary for a judge at the beginning of their career in Ireland stands at €122,512. This is only higher in Norway, Switzerland, and the UK.

The study found the lowest gross annual salary in the EU for a judge at the beginning of their career was in Bulgaria, where judges can expect to be paid just €14,345.

Armenia, who were included in the study of European countries, sees their judges earn just €1,145 at the beginning of their careers.

The study also revealed that Ireland has the lowest number of judges per capita of any country in Europe.

Fewest judges 

In the report, published yesterday by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), Ireland was found to have only 3.1 judges per 100,000 inhabitants.

The average number of judges per 100,000 inhabitants is 21. The European Union country with the highest per capita rate of judges was Slovenia with 47.1 judges per 100,000 inhabitants.

Overall, Ireland has a total of 144 judges. The EU member state with the most judges is Germany, with 19,832.

The report, which examines trends in judicial systems across Europe, also found that the economic downturn across Europe had impacted judicial budgets in about half of countries.

Luxembourg and France are the only countries in Europe that provide access to the courts free of charge for users. Across the majority of states the revenue from the justice system presents a significant resource.

Individual spend

On average it was found that each person in Europe spends €60 a year on judicial systems.

Ireland was found to be among Europe’s biggest spenders when it came to the overall percentage of annual public expenditure.

Our spending of 3.4% of our national budget is equal to Denmark’s with only the Republic of Macedonia and the United Kingdom allocating bigger percentages to the justice system.

The average percentage spend as part of annual public expenditure across Europe is 2.2%.

Read: Ireland’s judges are struggling to ‘maintain services to which people have a right’

Also: Justice committee calls for single Garda Ombudsman

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