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THE STATE PAID just over €27 million to the country’s judges in 2011, according to new figures released by the Department of Finance.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Susan Denham, was paid €304,974 while the President of the High Court Nicholas Kearns received €283,836.
The seven judges of the Supreme Court received an average of €269,344 each while the 38 judges of the High Court were paid an average of just over €230,000.
The President of the Circuit Court was paid €258,000 while the 38 Circuit Court judges received an average of €172,000.
The District Court president received €192,951 in 2011. The 66 judges of the District Court received an average of €135,000.
Ireland’s judges are among the highest paid in Europe, second only to judges in Scotland.
An referendum in October saw an amendment passed to allow for the reduction of judicial salaries. Almost 80 per cent of those who voted were in favour of the proposal.
Previously the Constitution said that the remuneration of a judge could not be reduced while they were in office.
Legislation signed into law by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter saw judges take a significant pay cut of more than 10 per cent from 1 January 2012.
The total budget allocated to the Irish justice system in 2010 was around €2.5 billion. More than €280 million of this was ringfenced for the courts, public prosecution and legal aid.
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A lot of these judges are totally out of touch with reality. Very disheartening for a guard when they arrest a far from upstanding moral character and see them out on street after they give a sob story(usually involved a hard life upon which they seem to absolve themselves of element of responsibility) to a judge.
Judges should job shadow guards for a couple of weeks every now and again.
Why do we never hear of cuts to the Justice system budget? Given that the system is broken and needs an overhaul.
Huh? We held a whole referendum about cutting judges’ pay.
That’s just a crazy amount of money !
Sick!
Why don’t these judges earn their salary by choosing to change some of the ancient laws and punishments given to murderers, rapists, molestation, drunken drivers, drunks on the streets, peeing and sh1ting where citizens are walking to work the following day . There is nothing to stop them from making proper laws. Build a huge prison, somewhere. Hard labour, chain gangs on the streets in every city, town in Ireland, cleaning the streets, gutters, gardens of OAP’s, disabled, etc. especially the area where they committed the crime. Yes, give some kind of councilling when inside. Where’s the money coming from to pay for the prison? Cut judges, barristers, Ministers’ salaries, expenses etc. etc. On the spot fines of EUR200 if using a mobile while driving, smoking, eating while driving. There are a lot of areas that money could be collected.
Sheila they are judges not legislators. They have no power in changing the law. In my view their salaries should be cut to the bone. I dont understand the problem with this. Politicians dont would to rub anyone with a state job the wrong way.
Sheila. You views are identical to mine. I mean how hard can it be if there was genuinely a will to change Irish society. I’ll give you the answer. Most people, elite and the great unwashed are happy with the status quo. That’s why I got tired if being the only voice asking for what you advocate. I left 4 years ago for Munich. They have a civilized society here. It’s nice.
Sheila,would you bring back the cat & nine tails too?
@Simon Blake,
In the next 5 years in Ireland the ‘gang wars’ are going to be huge. There will be innocent people and children involved and killed. Authority, people supposedly in charge now, will not be able to cope because the attitude of many in comfortable society will not have cared for so long, it’ll be impossible to fix.
Yeah@Sheila you probably would also include those who can’t pay their bills on time and all these new taxes and the TV licence???? :-|
It is these levels of pay in the public sector that need cutting not the ordinary workers struggling to pay mortgages etc. but you won’t here politicians baying to cut their powerful pals in the judiciary becausei their pay is linked no they will just target frontline workers
BETTY we have the power to cut the politicians pay do not vote for them
So that’s the first four million in cuts… and?
But they do such a good job
Judge Judy would do better
Judge the from Wanderly Wagon would do a better job..let alone Judge Judy.
*dog*
how can these judges operate without fear or favour when a lot of them are bankrupt ,the time has come for judges to be investigated to see if their finances are ok .
Whilst such strife permeates the country no public servant, judges included, should be paid more than 100k.
Worth every penny- how else can these poor elitists compete with the rest of the over paid public servants such as hosp consultants, sec gens of gov depts., ex ministers.
It’s criminal !!!!!
how many State Judges are you talking …?
If balance is important to fairness then where is the figure showing how much revenue that the judiciary raised in fines for the state? I have no time for judges or lawyers but I do like to see fairness in journalistic articles. Quality demands it.
judges impose the law not deliver justice
its become a circus for the legal professionals to extort money from both sides. don’t know why anyone thinks they generate revenue. your more likely to get fines and prision if it’s a bad debt or non payment of TV license.
judges lock up the poor not criminals
if I reach over the counter in a bank and stole 10 euro I get jail. but if I defrauded millions I be free as a bird playing golf and blaming the recession
Tom Shine, your ‘reply’ is a mile or two off topic which suggests that not only are you singing from the wrong hymn sheet but in the wrong church!
Their wages should be calculated as per their logic. ie. grant them €500,000 per year with 80% suspended.
There’s one court who’s figures are ommited, that of the most secret court in the land, family court, its my understanding they sit fortnightly and are unaccountable to everyone because of the In-Camera rule,, where does this expense come from, does it trickled down from the 1billion HSE budget for child trafficking , sorry “child protection” , people call me paranoid but when our PM gets paid more than that warmonger who sits in the whitehouse and our judges get paid more than ( bar one) of our euro neighbours I care little what I’m called, just to remind you again of the figure, 1 billion..
Family law judges are the same judges that do district courts in criminal law. One day they could be doing family law and the next criminal law.
A family law judge is a district court judge. One day they could be doing criminal law and the next family law.
A family law judge is a district court judge.
Yup Aka,I heard you the 1st of the 3 times you mouthed, point of fact the breakdown of figures calculated accounts for every courts expense except the one I mentioned,, nothing like an old nixer to boost the giro…WTF is your point?
Can we have another judges pay referendum….pleeeeeease?
I have a better suggestion I believe Sean, abandon these ways that have caused us nothing but trouble and strife, perhaps look at going back to Brehon law be cause this system clearly does not work
I think it might be challenging to apply it to a 21st century country.
A free and democratic country needs judges to be paid at a certain level to avoid the potential of political or other adverse influence. If their pay were to be reduced by the dramatic levels suggested in the posts to this article, the position of judge would become unattractive to new entrants and would undermine the independence of
existing members of the judiciary. The reality is that most lawyers who take the bench in later life take a significant pay cut to become judges. At that stage they will already have entered into other financial commitments (e.g. mortgage) based on a certain salary level. While one can argue about lawyers’ fees, these are largely dictated by the market for legal services and are not paid directly by the taxpayer. A relatively low judicial salary will not attract the better lawyers, hence the standard of our judiciary would diminish over time. Is it really in the public interest that this would happen in respect of what is a tiny fraction of overall public spending? Remember an independent judiciary is all that stands between individual freedom and a police state. Be careful what you wish for!
I really went for the wrong job my god it’s a joke
Sick!
I don´t discuss the need for independence, and that means financial independence of the judiciary members, but a clapped-out solicitor appointed to the District Court, dishing out liqueur licenses and confirming speeding tickets should not be receiving €135K p.a. Should be on a par with say a secondary school teacher, maybe. Mike
Ya gotta love fukn backward paddys, shit loads of red hands, sorry thumbs, not W single arguement to back the their abstention, put a roof over the land, check yerselves in for just a wee while… BaaAaaBaaa
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