THE COST of expenses claimed for travel and accommodation for judges as they travel to courts around the State has fallen by almost one-third in the past two years, according to figures released by the Courts Service.
This is despite an increase in the number of judges and of courts sittings, a spokesman for the service said.
The cost fell from €2,432,580 in 2008 to €1,672,770 last year, he said, a reduction of 31 per cent. The biggest area of savings was in the cost of accommodation and subsistence where an almost 40 per cent reduction in cost was achieved. Transport costs saw a reduction of nearly 16 per cent.
A 25 per cent reduction in travel and subsistence applied to the judiciary and the public service generally, in according with Government policy introduced in 2008. Almost 98 per cent of judicial expenses are incurred where judges are required to attend at courts away from home. The remaining 2 per cent relate to special judicial attire and incidental expenses.
The bulk of the expenses were incurred by judges of the Circuit and District Court, who were paid €567,300.50 and €953,491.15 respectively last year.
There are 38 Circuit Court judges and 66 District Court judges, so they were paid an average of €14,929 and €14,447 each. However, the amounts vary enormously depending on where they live and the area they have to cover.
The High Court, however, only cost the State €137,974.58 in expenses, an average of €3,729 for each of its 37 members. They travel much less to hear cases than do judges of the Circuit and District Courts. The Supreme Court, which sits in Dublin, incurred €14,003.95, an average of €1,750 for each judge.
Travel and subsistence includes travel to conferences both within and outside Ireland, which judges from all four jurisdictions attend. Total travel for the Supreme Court last year was €1,394.61 and for the High Court cost €9,268.28.
There were 55 Circuit Court venues and 126 District Court venues outside of Dublin in 2010. The Courts Service spokesman pointed out that judges based in Dublin have very little travel and subsistence expenses while judges assigned to larger geographical areas have substantial travel between court venues within the area. In addition there are judges not assigned to specific courts who travel to cover sick or annual leave or assist assigned judges.
The largest single drop in expenditure came in the area of subsistence for Circuit Court judges, which fell from €656,439.77 in 2008 to €346,691.71 in 2010, a drop of almost half. District Court subsistence costs fell from €838,530.17 to €520,771.06.
Subsistence for judges of the higher courts showed much less variation, with such expenses for High Court judges falling from €138,304.27 to €124,245.53 and for the Supreme Court from €15,695.61 to €11,109.84.