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OPINION:ARTICLE 36 of the Constitution enables the Oireachtas to regulate “the remuneration, age of retirement and pensions” of the judiciary. However, to preserve judicial independence from influence by government, Article 35.5 states that “the remuneration of a judge shall not be reduced during his continuance in office”, writes ALAN SHATTER

In the 1958 landmark judgment of O’Byrne v Minister for Finance, the Supreme Court rejected the contention of deceased Supreme Court judge John O’Byrne’s widow that this provision precluded the State from imposing income tax on his salary. Chief Justice Maguire asserted that “to require a judge to pay taxes on his income on the same basis as other citizens and thus to contribute to the expenses of government cannot be said to be an attack upon his independence”. However, both Chief Justice Maguire and other court members distinguished between imposing on judges’ non-discriminatory taxes common to all and a tax particular to a judge which would, in the words of Mr Justice Kingsmill-Moore, “worsen his position vis-a-vis the rest of the citizens of the State”.