34 complaints about judges in first three months of act
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The new judicial complaints body received 34 cases within the first three months of being set up, figures show.
The Judicial Conduct Committee began taking complaints about judges from the public on October 3, 2022, after the Justice Minister signed a commencement order under the Judicial Council Act 2019.
The issue of judicial oversight and the lack of a complaints mechanisms has been a long-running thorny legal, constitutional and political matter.
The absence of such structures was highlighted following the attendance of newly appointed Supreme Court judge Seamus Woulfe at a hotel function during covid restrictions in August 2020, commonly known as ‘Golfgate’.
The Judicial Council Annual Report 2022 said between October 3 and the end of last year, 34 complaints were received by the Judicial Conduct Committee.
Of these, 17 were deemed as not coming within the scope of the 2019 act. Of the remaining 17 complaints:
- 10 were determined to be inadmissible by the committee’s registrar;
- One complaint was withdrawn;
- Six complaints, received in December 2022, remained for consideration at the end of the year.
Two requests for reviews of the registrar’s determination were received and referred to the Complaints Review Committee
“At the end of 2022, given that the system is in operation for less than three months and only 10 cases were considered by the registrar, it is too soon to identify trends or give an overview in relation to complaints made about judges,” the report said.
It said it was of “particular significance” that this section of the act was now fully commenced and in operation.
“The importance of this is that every individual judge in Ireland is now for the first time subject to a statutory regulatory system of judicial standards and conduct, investigation and reprimand,” the report said.
The committee, which was established in July 2020, is made up of 13 members: the Chief Justice and four court presidents; three judges elected by the judiciary and five lay members nominated by the Government.
In addition to launching inquiries based on complaints, the committee may also, in the absence of a complaint about a judge’s conduct, but where it considers it necessary to safeguard the administration of justice, refer a matter for investigation.