JUDGMENT was reserved yesterday in a High Court action taken by 32 district court clerks against the Minister for Justice over salaries and status.
At a previous court hearing, it was said the clerks claimed they were owed £1.7 million in back earnings. They also claimed they were being assimilated into the general Civil Service.
The court clerks said they were office holders, different from civil servants, and were at higher executive officer level. There were nine further District Court clerks outside the Dublin Metropolitan District and County Borough of Cork who had Civil Service descriptions of assistant principal officers. The grades of court clerk depended on the number of cases a year. The clerks claimed they should all be paid the same salary.
Yesterday, Mr John Gordon SC, for the State, said all district court clerks were civil servants and were not separate from other civil servants.
He said the clerks said they had all to be paid the same, yet everybody employed under the Court Officers Act 1926 was to be paid a salary which the Minister determined. The Civil Service Regulations Act also provided for complete discretion as to what any civil servant was paid.
Mr Justice Morris said he hoped to give judgment next week.