Justice

The politically appointed judiciary regularly breach their oath of office with impunity safe in the knowledge that they will not be held accountable. The Judicial Council Act allows judges to be judge in their own cause. In accordance with the Bangalore Principles for Judicial Conduct there needs to be an independent body to deal with complaints against the Judiciary. In 100 years no judge has been removed from office by the Oireachtas for misbehaviour or incapacity.

Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell in his Guidelines for Judicial Conduct and Ethics states: “Recognising the Bangalore Principles’ injunction that the articulation of judicial conduct standards and the regulation of judges’ adherence to them is a matter for the independent judiciary”. Compare that with what the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct says: “These principles pre-suppose that judges are accountable for their conduct to appropriate institutions established to maintain judicial standards, which are themselves independent and impartial”.

The non commencement of the 1924 Courts of Justice Act and the infirmities in the Ministers and Secretaries Act create a lacuna in Irish law. The establishment and judiciary are aware of these issues but pretend that they don’t exist.

The purpose of the judicial arm of the State is to provide justice in accordance with the Constitution and the laws in a timely, cost effective manner and to hold the other arms of the State to account.