One in five judges yet to pay voluntary pension levy

MORE THAN 20 per cent of the State’s judges have yet to make a contribution towards the pension levy, nine months after voluntary arrangements were introduced.

To date, 111 of a total of 141 serving judges have paid or made arrangements to make voluntary payments in lieu of the pension levy, according to the Revenue Commissioners.

Payments amounting to €698,000 have been received, and “commitments” via standing orders and other financial arrangements totalling €55,200 per month have been given, Revenue said in a brief statement yesterday.

The statement provided no information on the period covered by these payments or the amounts paid by individual judges. According to Revenue, the voluntary payments by judges can be made at any time and at varying frequencies.

There was no single specific “due date” by which payments must be made and further payment continue to be received.

A Revenue spokesman was unable to say last night how much of the total sum received related to the 2009 tax year or to provide any other details relating to the payments.

Reacting to the Revenue figures, Dublin North Fianna Fáil TD Michael Kennedy urged all judges to pay the pension levy and called for a referendum on reducing judges’ pay.

“Judges carry out important work and for this they are well paid. If they were to agree to a cut, substantial savings would be made and their salaries would not be hugely affected.”

Judges were exempted from the public service pension levy introduced last year on the grounds that the Constitution did not permit their remuneration to be reduced.

Article 35.5, which was drawn up with the intent of minimising political influence on the judiciary, states: “The remuneration of a judge shall not be reduced during his continuance in office.”

However, after widespread criticism of the failure of judges to make a contribution in line with the levy paid by other public servants, an agreement for a voluntary payment was drawn up in April after talks between Chief Justice John Murray and Revenue chairwoman Josephine Feehily.

Under this agreement, contributions would be voluntary and would remain confidential, according to a statement from Mr Justice Murray last year, “in order to respect the independence of the judiciary”.

Since the introduction of the pension levy, the salaries of public servants have been further reduced, with those of the highest paid being reduced by 15 per cent.

Judges were exempt from these reductions and no further agreement is in place to allow for additional higher voluntary payments to reflect these changes.

However, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said in his budget speech that the salaries of judges were to be frozen for the lifetime of the administration.

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.