SEVENTY-TWO OF the State’s 144 serving judges have paid the voluntary pension levy agreed between the judiciary and the Revenue Commissioners earlier this year, or made arrangements to make regular payments.
The Revenue Commissioners, announcing the figures yesterday, said a total of €329,800 had been received to date under the levy arrangement. The 144 serving judges cover the Supreme, High, Circuit and District courts.
In addition, commitments via standing orders and similar arrangements, which amount to €46,400 per month, have been given.
In May of this year the Chief Justice announced that arrangements had been made with the Revenue Commissioners whereby judges could voluntarily pay a sum equivalent to the pension levy imposed on all public servants.
The Act that introduced the pension levy exempted members of the judiciary from paying it on the grounds that imposing it on them could be unconstitutional. The Constitution states: “The remuneration of a judge shall not be reduced during his continuance in office.”
The voluntary contribution arrangement resulted from discussions between the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Murray, and the chairwoman of the Revenue Commissioners, Josephine Feehily, which were concluded in April and began shortly after the pension levy Act was passed.
At the time Mr Justice Murray said that the arrangement was both voluntary and confidential.
The Revenue Commissioners posted the information on the current level of payments on its website yesterday, adding: “It is important to emphasise that these voluntary payments can be made at any time and at varying frequencies – monthly, quarterly, annually. There is no single specific ‘due date’ by which payments must be made.’’
Judges’ salaries range from €295,000 for the Chief Justice to €147,000 for a District Court judge, with High Court judges earning €243,000 a year.
The mechanism for paying the contribution allows for payments to be made at various intervals, including annually, and to take various forms, including cheques and standing orders. According to legal sources, some judges may wait to pay until they finalise their tax affairs at the end of the year.
The Chief Justice issued a statement when the agreement with the Revenue Commissioners was made, stating that, in the light of the economic crisis, it was considered that members of the judiciary should be facilitated in making such payments.
It stressed it was “a matter for each individual judge to decide whether he or she will voluntarily make the contribution in question.”
The Chief Justice is on leave and did not comment yesterday.