Politicians pose risk to courts' independence, warns judge

THE OUTGOING President of the High Court has said it is vital for democracy that the judiciary retains its independence “irrespective of the jealousy and resentment it produces” from legislators, particularly in recent times.

In a speech marking his last day on the bench, Mr Justice Richard Johnson declared: “The public do not want clever judges, they do not want brilliant judges but they want honest judges and they want judges who they know have not been got at.”

He said he was very glad to have heard the Taoiseach recently say he was in favour of the democratic institutions of the country, and also very glad to to hear the Attorney General repeat that.

“The one institution which demonstrates a democracy and an independent democracy more than anything else is . . . an independent judiciary,” he said.

“Executives don’t like people disagreeing with them and this independence produces, unfortunately, jealousy and rivalry. It was recognised in the 1922 Constitution, it was recognised in the [19]37 Constitution . . . has been accepted all along as an integral part of a democratic republic.

“It still is an integral part of a democratic republic,” he said.

However, he had noticed in recent times certain members of the executive and legislature, particularly the legislature, criticising the independence of the judiciary. “It will be a bad day for the country if the judiciary don’t remain independent, irrespective of the resentment and jealousy it produces.”

One may have thought occasionally this country had become “a playground for lobbyists, canvassers, touts, public relations persons and spin doctors”, he said.

“These are the people who apparently control the public airwaves and if we allow the independence of the judiciary be undermined, then we will have a situation where the judges will be subject to the same pressures as our TDs, councillors and planning officials are. I doubt whether they will be accompanied by brown envelopes, but it is very necessary that we protect against it.”

Addressing a packed court four in the Four Courts which included many High Court judges, Mr Justice Johnson also warned that judges who “read the papers and react to them” are not fulfilling their function and must “resist any blandishments of the media”.

Judges should also resist pressure from their colleagues to do something they may not want to do, he added.

The “last and most dangerous pressure of all which can affect a judge is personal ambition”, he said. That had to be guarded against continuously because: “You have got to remember when you sit out there, you have taken an oath to administer without fear or favour.

“No fear no favour, that is how you do your job and I would warn my colleagues against that particular weakness which may afflict them.”

The essential thing was for the public to know that judges were doing “the best we can honestly”.