Arrangements have been made for judges to pay their contribution towards the pension levy to the Revenue Commissioners.
The contributions will be voluntary on the part of the individual judge, and will be confidential.
This follows discussions between the Chief Justice, John Murray, and the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, Josephine Feehily, about a mechanism whereby such payments could be made.
The talks began shortly after the coming into force of the Act implementing the pension levy.
That Act exempted the judiciary from it on the grounds that the Constitution did not permit their remuneration to be reduced. Article 35.5 states: “The remuneration of a judge shall not be reduced during his continuance in office.”
There had been widespread criticism of the failure of the judges to make a contribution in line with the pension levy imposed on all public servants.
According to a statement issued today by the Chief Justice through the Courts Service, legal issues arose relating to arrangements for a voluntary contribution of the pension levy in the discussions with the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners.
These have now been resolved, said Mr Justice Murray, and the arrangements for making the contribution will be put in place immediately.
Mr Justice Murray’s statement added that the contribution was constitutionally a matter for each individual judge, and that any arrangements would be confidential between the judge and the Revenue Commissioners.
Some legal sources said such confidentiality was necessary to avoid a perception that individual judges were seeking public approval or career advancement by publicly paying the levy, and it was feared such a perception would compromise their independence.
The statement said: “At the request of Chief Justice John Murray, and with the support of the Supreme Court, arrangements have been made with the Revenue Commissioners enabling judges to voluntarily pay to the Commissioners their contribution towards the pension levy.”
Meanwhile, former Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuinness rejected a call from Fine Gael for judges to work an extra month and save the State millions by clearing the backlog of judicial reviews.
Speaking on Newstalk’s lunchtime programme, she said “My own experience, particularly where doing a judicial review list, is that you have to do a written judgment on practically every case and you spend a large part of your vacation writing up the judgments that have accumulated, so it’s not all playing golf or whatever,” she said.