Sir, – Deirdre Breen’s (October 13th) highlights a fundamental misunderstanding behind the reasons for the legal profession’s objections to a referendum on judge’s pay.
It is not due to a “sense of entitlement” or belief of “immunity from an economic fallout”, on the behalf of the legal profession, as Ms Breen suggests. Instead, it seems obvious that the protestations of the legal community stem from the manner in which judicial pay will be cut, not the actual monetary decrease in the salary itself. Members of the judiciary in Ireland have long been advocates for minority rights, social equality and justice for all, regardless of standing or wealth, often taking stances which have left them at odds with the conventional opinions of the government of the day.
By allowing the government to alter judicial pay at their discretion, we are left with an extremely odious situation where the government enjoys considerable leverage and power to curtail this judicial freedom of expression, which has bettered so many Irish lives.
Ms Breen is right, we do need reform and we do need fairness, but eroding the independence of the very people who have been bastions of this justice and fairness will not solve anything. – Yours, etc,