Sir, – When it comes to the proposed constitutional referendum on the reduction of judicial salaries, it is arguable that there is a devil in the detail. According to the proposed new Article 35.5.3, legislation may provide for reduction in judicial remuneration where such legislation also, inter alia, provides for reduction in the remuneration of other classes of persons paid for out of public money.
While I am not opposed in principle to provision being made for reductions in judicial salary as part of the State’s response to our current economic difficulties, it is still vitally important to safeguard the independence of the judiciary from the other branches of government so that the courts may act impartially in any litigation involving the State.
However, the proposed draft of Article 35.5.3 has the potential to undermine such judicial independence because it fails to provide that any reduction in judicial salary should be equivalent to the reductions made to the salaries of the other public sector workers. On the face of it, therefore, if this amendment passes, a future Oireachtas that wished to control the judiciary could threaten to introduce legislation reducing the remuneration of one class of person paid out of public funds by, say, 5 per cent and judicial salaries by, say, 50 per cent. In order to protect judicial independence, the proposed referendum should at minimum provide that reductions in judicial salaries shall be equivalent to the salary reductions of the other persons covered by the relevant legislation. – Yours, etc,