A monitoring system to ensure that Northern Ireland's judges are representative of the community in which they operate must be created as a matter of urgency, a new report has recommended.
A monitoring system to ensure that Northern Ireland's judges are representative of the community in which they operate must be created as a matter of urgency, a new report has recommended.
Mr John Simpson, commissioner for judicial appointments in Northern Ireland, today publishes a lengthy report which, among many issues, he believes will deal with the regular complaints from nationalist politicians that Catholics are under-represented in the Northern Ireland judiciary.
At present, there is no formal breakdown of the religious background of Northern Ireland's judges. They number about 120 - from Appeal and High Court judges to deputy resident magistrates.
Mr Simpson told The Irish Times that it did not make sense that people should have to guess the community background of judges by checking "their names or anything else".
His 167-page report, containing 101 recommendations, also addresses the representation of women on the Bench. Of a total of 124 full-time and part-time judges listed in his report, only 19 are women. A monitoring system would also assist in ensuring that people with disabilities could become judges, he added.
In Northern Ireland, there are three Lord Justices of Appeal, eight High Court judges, and one deputy High Court judge. All are men. The current Lord Chief Justice, Sir Robert Carswell, comes from a unionist or Protestant background. However, at this senior level, religious background of the judges generally reflects the religious balance in the population, according to Mr Simpson.
"At High Court level, I had no serious suggestions that we are not appointing from across the whole community," said Mr Simpson.
Legal sources, however, told The Irish Times that, in the lower county courts, there was an under-representation of judges from the Catholic and nationalist community, while, at magistrate level, there was a reasonable balance.
At present, the majority of people entering the legal profession are Catholics. As Mr Simpson's report points out, the Institute of Professional Legal Studies illustrated that, in 2001, 35 per cent of students for the Bar were Protestant and 62 per cent Catholic. The figures for student solicitors were 40 per cent Protestant and 49 per cent Catholic.
Mr Simpson in his report was keen to stress that his recommendations were neither an explicit nor an implicit criticism of the current judiciary. "Northern Ireland has been well served by the judiciary during years of exceptional difficulty," he said.
Mr Simpson said that a small number of organisations and a number of individuals said there were an insufficient number of Catholic judges and "no nationalist judges".
"In addition, the submissions added that some observers believe there is a definite perception that those Catholics who sit on the Bench are not representative of the mainstream nationalist community, and do not hold nationalist views," he added.
"They believed this is partly the result of the background of those particular judges, but also relates to their perception of a British and unionist ethos in the criminal justice system and the courts in particular.
"There is no known evidence that would suggest a political or community bias in the present composition of the senior judiciary. Indeed, the introduction of any such allegation flies in the face of the acknowledged independent action of the judiciary during many years of difficult circumstances," he said.
On the contentious issue of membership of organisations perceived to represent only one side of the community, Mr Simpson proposes the establishment of a register of interests for all members of the judiciary.
"In Northern Ireland, it should be clear to all members of the judiciary that they should not join organisations or societies that may be perceived to belong solely to one community and to have an image that is partisan," he says.
Mr Simpson said that some submissions to his report complained of a "glass ceiling" against women lawyers advancing to the Bench, and that men predominated in the higher posts. He noted that one male barrister commented that women barristers were "pigeonholed into family work which reduces their chances of appointment".
He said that a monitoring system could address the issues of religious and gender balance as well as ensuring greater opportunities for those with disabilities. Mr Simpson also proposes a formal application and selection process for every post up to High Court judge.