PUBLIC COMMENTS BY the President of the High Court about a shortage of judges and postponement of trials caused serious disquiet in government departments and were described as “most unfortunate” and an “implicit criticism” of the government and Áras an Uachtaráin by senior officials.
Ms Justice Mary Irvine had said the High Court would start the 2021 legal year with seven judges short of what they had been promised only months earlier by the Department of Justice.
Internal records reveal how the Department of Justice was taken aback by the comments and asked why they had not been given a “heads up” on what was coming.
In an email, Oonagh Buckley – a deputy secretary at the Department of Justice – wrote to the CEO of the Courts Service Angela Denning about the comments.
“It would have been useful to have received a heads up about the below as we discussed yesterday,” she told Angela Denning in an email on 1 October.
“As you will appreciate, the implicit criticism of the Áras and the Government is very unfortunate.”
Denning responded to say that she herself had been given no advance notice, meaning she had not been in position to give them any warning.
She wrote: “It is my understanding from the Chief Justice that no criticism of Government or of your department was intended.
“I will speak to the [incoming] Chief Justice at out first meeting after his appointment to see if we can put an arrangement in place so that you at least know that something like this is coming.”
The records detail how the Department of the Taoiseach was also unhappy with the comments after being forwarded them by colleagues in Justice.
An email from Dermot Woods, Assistant Secretary of the Government Secretariat, echoed what was later relayed to the Courts Service.
“The implicit criticism of the President and the Government is very unfortunate,” wrote Woods.
Later messages provided updates on progress for filling the posts, with large sections of the records redacted under FOI laws.
An internal email said: “This is the latest position on appointments … appointment rests between the Taoiseach’s office and the Áras, and all are aware of the urgency.”
In her comments early last October, Ms Justice Mary Irvine had said her assumptions about having extra judges in place for the next legal year had been “misplaced”.
She said there was no choice but to cancel a substantial amount of work scheduled for that month.
“I am acutely aware of the distress that the cancellation of criminal trials will have on the victims of crime impacted by today’s decision,” she said, “and also of the effect that the cancellation of those trials will have on the accused, particularly those in custody, who must be presumed to be innocent.”
Release of the records was delayed after the Department of Justice redacted the names of officials from the Courts Service and the Department of Taoiseach from them.
Those names were only provided after an internal review was sought, a growing problem in the release of official records.
Asked about the emails, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said that ensuring the courts and judiciary were adequately resourced was a priority for government.
She said that the number of High Court judges is now six more than it was when the comments were made.
The spokeswoman said: “All judges in the state are independent in the conduct of their duties. The Courts Service has a statutory responsibility to provide support services to the judges and … work with judges and key stakeholders such as the Department of Justice, An Garda Síochána and other agencies to support the administration of justice.
“Communications in support of this work is on-going throughout the year and the exchanges shown demonstrate this.”
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