Judges to reject pension levy in spite of growing public anger
Sunday June 28 2009
Irish judges feel they are entitled to every cent they earn and have no shame in refusing to participate in the "voluntary pension levy", according to a senior member of the judiciary.
The vast majority of Irish judges don't think they should pay the pension levy, resent the perceived attack by politicians on their salaries, and will use the protection of "judicial independence" to resist attempts to make them pay up, the senior judge told this newspaper this weekend.
So far, only 19 of the State's 148 judges have signed up for the voluntary levy payment in the national interest, leading to strong attacks for failing to share the pain of the recession like everyone else.
Speaking personally, the judge said it was right the members of the judiciary pay the levy, but said the issue cannot be used to interfere with the independence of those in charge of our courts.
However, the judge said while some colleagues may be embarrassed into paying the levy after the public anger caused by last week's media revelations, the vast majority will simply refuse to pay up, firstly because there is no way for them to be named and shamed, and secondly because they feel they are entitled to what they earn.
"There is a constituency of my colleagues who I know feel no shame in refusing to volunteer the levy. It would eat into their disposable income maybe and they will quietly continue to resist attempts to make them pay up," the judge said.
"The only way for the names to come out is that a judge admits that he or she paid or did not pay the levy, and it is very unlikely that any judge will volunteer such information. Many feel they are entitled to this money. But it has been badly handled from the start I feel."
The judge feels that it would have been better for the judiciary to be included in the public sector pension levy, and called into question the decision by the Attorney General Paul Gallagher to omit them.
"I can't understand the decision to leave us out. If our guys felt that badly about it then they could have challenged it," the judge said.
"But I agree with Donal Barrington [former Supreme Court Judge] that the Attorney General could have included them, citing the O'Byrne case," the judge said.
The O'Byrne case dates back to 1959 when the Supreme Court ruled against the widow of a judge called O'Byrne who took a case claiming he should not have paid income tax, as it was a reduction in his remuneration.
Mr Justice Barrington said that the judges were being told they should not pay, but instead make a voluntary contribution, and if they did not they would be held up to hatred and ridicule. It's a very bad way to run the country, he said.
"It's bad for the judiciary and bad for society as a whole."
Mr Gallagher's decision to omit the judiciary from the levy plans was on the basis of Article 35.5 of the Constitution, which states: "The remuneration of a judge shall not be reduced during his continuance in office."
In the wake of the shocking revelation that so few judges had paid the levy, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said that on the advice of the Attorney General, he did not have the power to compel judges to take a cut in their pay.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has said that the Government should ignore the legal advice of the Attorney General and include the judiciary in the levy.
Mr Ahern also declined calls from one of his own backbenchers, Limerick West TD Niall Collins, for a referendum to be held to address the issue of judges' pay. Mr Collins said Irish judges are a group of elite untouchables who should be made subject to regular procedures that are applied to other public servants.
The severity of the backlash forced current Chief Justice Mr John Murray to issue a statement, a most unusual step for the judiciary.
He said: "The judiciary do not normally make public statements on matters of public controversy even where criticism of the judiciary may be involved. The judiciary, in circumstances which were not of their own choosing, sought and obtained, in the national interest, arrangements for the payment of voluntary contributions which they were not otherwise obliged to make."
Mr Murray claimed that the members of the judiciary are keen to play their part and contribute to the levy scheme.
"They [the voluntary arrangements with Revenue] are now only in place for a relatively short period. The fact that within the terms of those arrangements a judge has not yet made a payment cannot and does not mean that he or she has refused or will decline to do so.
"The due date for some forms of payment provided for by the Revenue Commissioners has not yet arisen.
"Although the making of contributions is necessarily voluntary and the decision of each judge with regard to them must be a matter for him or her, I expect there will be a strong and continuous participation in it [the scheme]."
A spokesman for the Revenue Commissioners said that judges have until the end of the year to make arrangements to pay the levy and that it was not prepared to reveal if any additional voluntary payments have been made since last weekend. However, the spokesman did say information will be published in September.
- DANIEL McCONNELL Chief Reporter
