TWO MINISTERS have expressed unhappiness at the number of judges who have so far made voluntary contributions in lieu of the pension levy imposed on all public servants.
Minister for Health Mary Harney last night said that she was disappointed that only 19 out of the State’s 148 judges had made the contribution to date. However, she believed the judiciary would respond and “show solidarity with those people that are losing their jobs and people who had to take a big hit in their incomes”.
On Saturday Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea said the judges were showing a “poor example” and that they should take heed of the public reaction.
Separately yesterday, chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission Kieran Mulvey said he would expect from a moral leadership perspective that all judges would have made the voluntary contribution by the end of the summer. He said he had been taken aback when he heard the numbers who had contributed. He told the The Irish Times that this sent out all the wrong signals.
However, the Courts Service yesterday said judges who had not yet made a voluntary contribution could not be said to have failed to avail of the arrangement made with the Revenue Commissioners. In an information note, a spokesman for the Courts Service said: “Under the arrangements provided by the Revenue Commissioners, it is open to any judge to make his or her voluntary contribution by the end of the fiscal year.”
The Courts Service does not represent the judiciary, which has no representative body and no spokesman. However, from time to time the Chief Justice and members of the judiciary avail of its services to clarify issues that have arisen
On RTÉ's The Week in Politicslast night, Ms Harney said she hoped there would be a better response from the judiciary. However, the last thing the Government needed to do was to sit in judgment on the judiciary. "I think that would be a very dangerous thing to do."
On RTÉ radio on Saturday, Mr O’Dea said: “We gave them [the judges] an opportunity to voluntarily give something to contribute to the present economic crisis and so far only one in 10 have done so and I think that is a poor example”.
Mr Mulvey said when the Chief Justice and the chairman of the Revenue Commissioners had come up with “an imaginative and unique” concept of the voluntary contribution, it was sending out a message that from a moral leadership point of view, this was the way to go.
“People are taking voluntary pay cuts, people are losing their jobs, people are losing their pensions. And suddenly they look across the spectrum and see some of the most privileged people in our society not making that voluntary contribution.”
Mr Mulvey said the mechanism for judges to pay the voluntary contribution may allow for this to be made on monthly, quarterly or annual basis.