Damage to judiciary discounted

The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane, has said he does not believe the judiciary was damaged by recent controversies. Interviewed in the current issue of the Law Gazette, he said: "I take quite a strong view about this. It's been said that various institutions in the State have been seriously damaged in the public mind. I don't think the judiciary has been damaged, but we can't afford to be complacent either."

Nowadays, he said, "judges are subjected to much more intense publicity and scrutiny than they ever were in the past. They have the spotlight of media attention on them morning, noon, and night.

"That's a fact of life that we have to accept. In one sense that can be good, in that it demystifies the process. If people thought judges were remote, with no connection to ordinary life, they now know that's not so."

He felt that "on the other hand, it means that judges deciding cases are under a good deal more pressure than they were before.

"Instead of people . . . waiting to see what the courts decide, there are waves of speculation about how they think a case should be decided -, which of, course judges withstand.

"But it doesn't make it any easier for a judge, knowing that sometimes an ill-informed public thinks there should be a particular result and that he may be deluged with criticism when the verdict comes out.

"Judges are not children, and they know that's part of the job and they get on with it. But it's a pressure that perhaps they shouldn't be subject to," he said.