Judges under stress

The excellent Maureen Gaffney, who contributed a much-missed column to this newspaper and occasionally doles out counselling - …

The excellent Maureen Gaffney, who contributed a much-missed column to this newspaper and occasionally doles out counselling - mostly of a marital nature - on The Gay Byrne Show, addressed a different audience altogether last month when she spoke to the judges of the Supreme and High Courts about "judicial stress". Quidnunc is unsure if affairs of the heart arose or whether she confined herself to the dangers of an inflated ego, excessive gravitas or indeed, indecision. In any event, it was wellattended.

The talk was given at a seminar organised by the Judicial Studies Institute in Mount Juliet, Co Kilkenny, last month and was fitted in between lectures on sentencing, damages, personal injury and such like.