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The country’s highest-ranking judge has waived a 5,200-euro salary increase in a move that will likely lead to calls for other members of the judiciary to follow suit.
Despite the opinion in government circles that granting salary increases to the judiciary “does not seem good”, the Cabinet approved increases ranging from 2,543 euros for a District Court judge to an additional 4,095 euros for a member of the Supreme Court.
However the Irish independent has learned that Chief Justice Frank Clarke will not accept his € 5,200 raise.
It is understood that the measure has been a personal gesture by Judge Clarke in recognition of the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic.
However, disclosure is likely to put pressure on colleagues to show their willingness to do the same.
Last night, the Cabinet approved the increases that began last October.
The judges of the Supreme Court are now entitled to receive a pay of at least 208,854 euros.
The additional 2,543 euros approved for the District Court judges provide the minimum wage to which they are entitled up to 129,704 euros.
The increases were due as part of a broader public sector wage restoration after cuts in the last economic crisis.
But Cabinet approval of the pay changes comes in a context where the Coalition is already facing backlash for refusing to pay front-line nursing students during the pandemic.
Rise TD Paul Murphy said the salary increase for judges “threw salt on their wounds.” He noted that Supreme Court Justice Séamus Woulfe, who has been at the center of the ‘Golfgate’ controversy, is now entitled to a 4,000 euro salary increase.
Chief Justice Clarke confronted Woulfe over his attendance at the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in August, shortly after the former attorney general was appointed to the Supreme Court. He told Mr. Woulfe that it was his personal opinion that he should resign. Mr. Woulfe has not.
Mr clarke – who is entitled to a salary of up to € 266,295 but earns less – he waived the € 5,221 increase he was supposed to receive in October. It is not clear if other judges have done the same.
The decision to approve the October pay increase caused unrest within the government, and Culture Minister Catherine Martin questioned it, according to sources. The deputy leader of the Green Party was said to “ask questions” about why the decision was being made at this time and asked, “Could it not be made at another time?”
Ms. Martin’s spokesperson said last night: “Cabinet talks are confidential. No comment.”
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar was questioned by journalists about the push for judges amid the debate on the payment of nursing students. He said it was the same 2 percent salary increase that other public sector workers such as teachers and gardaí received, although he noted that ministers resigned theirs. Varadkar added: “No matter when you do these things, they will always be misrepresented.”
In the Dáil, Taoiseach Micheál Martin defended the measures implemented to support nursing students, without directly addressing Paul Murphy’s point on judicial payment.
Meanwhile, the judges do not see the recent increases as wage increases, but rather as the reversal of cuts made during the last financial crisis.
A higher judge told the Irish independent the comparison between the restoration of judicial pay and the situation with the nursing students was unfair.
The judge said the position with nursing students should be approached on the basis of their merits. It was a political issue and not on which the judiciary should express its opinion,
said the judge.
Judges have previously complained about their salary and conditions, and the Irish Judges Association told Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe in 2017 that the best candidates were not running to become judges due to pay cuts and changes in the pensions.
A spokesman for the Department of Public Expenditure said the changes in the salaries of judges are “the 2% that all public servants have received since October 1 under the current public service salary agreement. Judges are currently paid on an administrative basis, so [yesterday’s Cabinet decision] it’s a technical order. ”
The spokesperson added that the judges are “being treated the same as all other public servants.”
“There is no preferential treatment.”
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