Judge hits out over failure to appoint more judges

The president of the Circuit Court, Mr Justice Raymond Groarke, said yesterday that if the Government was not prepared to give him judges he was “not going to obey their legislative strictures”.

In one of the toughest judicial criticisms to date of the Government’s refusal to appoint new judges, he said he was already three judges short of the court’s quota and, due to new developments, he would be five short by the beginning of the new legal term in January.

Judge Groarke said that, in the new year, he had to provide a judge for sittings of the Special Criminal Court and another judge was due to take sick leave which would leave him five down.