PLANS FOR the establishment of the long-awaited judicial council inched forward at the weekend with the holding of a judicial conference to discuss the matter.
Such a judicial council would have responsibility for judicial standards and conduct, and would set up a complaints and disciplinary procedure for judges.
The conference took place on Saturday, where judges discussed a draft Judicial Council Bill drawn up by a committee of High Court judges.
This follows another draft Bill drawn up by a two-man working group made up of representatives of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and of Chief Justice John Murray. That group was set up exactly a year ago, and produced its Bill some months later, based on the department’s draft and observations on it from the Chief Justice.
Last December, proposals for a judicial council were reported to be “at an advanced stage”, and that the Chief Justice and the Minister for Justice had agreed to discuss a “narrow but important range of issues”.
A draft Judicial Council Bill first emerged from the Department of Justice in 2004, following the production of a lengthy report on the issue by the then chief justice, Mr Justice Ronan Keane, in 2000.
This followed a proposal for the setting up of a judicial council by the All-Party Committee on the Constitution in 1999.
However, the whole process was derailed by the Judge Curtin affair later in 2004, when a Circuit Court judge was charged with the possession of child pornography, but acquitted on a technicality.
The judicial council plan was shelved while he unsuccessfully challenged in the courts the procedure adopted by the Oireachtas seeking to impeach him. He resigned in 2006, allowing consideration of the Judicial Council Bill to resume, including judgments of the High Court and Supreme Court on the Curtin challenge to be fed into the deliberations.
However, it is understood that the draft Bill from the Department of Justice caused some concern among members of the judiciary, as it was thought to impinge on judicial independence. This led to a further draft from the Chief Justice, and the attempt to reconcile the two by the working group.
The working group Bill, finalised last year, was sent back to the judiciary for its consideration, and the conference on Saturday was part of that process.
The Irish Timesunderstands that a committee of High Court judges produced their own draft Bill for consideration by the conference on Saturday.