No row with judges, insists Shatter

Justice Minister Alan Shatter insisted “there isn’t a row” between him and the judiciary and dismissed claims that communications between both sides had broken down as “bizarre”.

He made his comments as the increasingly bitter dispute between judges and the Government appeared to have been defused, after the Chief Justice Susan Denham secured agreement on a new mediation system.

She is due to meet the Taoiseach “to discuss the issues of mutual concern that emerge” following an unprecedented row over whether a range of government measures undermined the independence of the judiciary.

Talks between senior judges and Attorney General Máire Whelan took place on Monday in an effort to quell the dispute, which Fianna Fáil said threatened a “constitutional crisis”.

The meeting followed a letter sent to the chief justice last month on behalf of Enda Kenny, assuring her that the Government considers judicial independence “indispensable”.

Despite claims by some ministers that the issue was about the “pay, pensions, and privileges” of judges, Ms Justice Denham last night defended her colleagues, who she said were acting patriotically.

“I cannot say enough about the energy and commitment of my colleagues on the bench, about the judges of Ireland, in reacting to the situation the State has found itself in the past few years,” she said.

Productivity had increased by 25% in the courts “in the past time of economic challenge”. Judges had shown “deep compassion” in their dealings with those who had been led to the courts by debt issues.

The judiciary had “continued to show an enormous willingness to change and to undertake more work with less resources”.

At her address last night to the Law Society in Griffith College Dublin, she said: “Because of the concerns of the judiciary, I suggested to the Government that there should be more regular engagement to facilitate constructive discussion on these and other matters of mutual concern and interest to the judiciary and the executive.”

She said there were issues of serious concern to the judiciary but the Government had accepted the new forum within which these could be considered.

Earlier, the representative body for solicitors in Ireland called on the Government and judges to stop rowing in public and meet privately to resolve ongoing tensions.

Managing director of the Law Society, Ken Murphy, said it viewed the recent public bickering with “dismay” and warned that it could “cause major damage to the democratic system in Ireland and to the country’s reputation abroad”.

Asked about the ongoing controversy, Mr Shatter said: “There isn’t a row. The judiciary don’t usually engage in a political area and that is correct and members of Government don’t interfere with the work the judiciary do.

“I have had extensive contact and communications with members of the judiciary on appropriate issues.

“It is quite bizarre to suggest that communications have been broken down with the Government.”