Madam, – With reference to the report of the Moriarty tribunal and the attacks on its findings and by some in particular on members of the judiciary, it might worth quoting the comments of Lord Buckmaster to the Canadian Bar Association in 1925. “A position on the bench, whatever bench it might be, ought not merely to be an office of dignity it ought to be the position of the highest honour and everyone should treat the man or woman administering justice even in the humblest court as a person who is engaged in work that is something far greater than the ordinary service of the State The judge is the minister of one of the most august and divine duties entrusted by Providence to man, the administration of justice as between fellow creatures.”
The inescapable consequences of living in a state governed by the rule of law is that we accept that be you ever so high the law is above you. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Alan Shatter’s defence of the judiciary in support of the Moriarty tribunal has echoes of the Master of the Rolls, Lord Denning’s “appalling vista” with regard to the Birmingham Six. Surely our brand new Minister for Justice is not suggesting that the judiciary should be above reproach or criticism?
It was the supine attitude of deference that was afforded the Irish Catholic bishops that led them to behave with the sort of impunity that gave rise to the recent and on-going scandals in the Catholic church.
Like the bishops in our Republic, our judges are fallible and should be reminded of the fact regularly. – Yours, etc,