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Judges can face misconduct inquiries after new complaints regime approved
February 04 2022 02:00 PM
A long-awaited process for handling complaints about judges will come into operation by June after the Judicial Council voted to accept new conduct and ethics guidelines.
Under the complaints regime, a panel of inquiry made up of two judges and a lay person can be appointed to investigate allegations of misconduct.
It will allow for judges to be admonished or instructed to take a specific course of action if a complaint against them is upheld.
In cases where serious misconduct is found, the Judicial Council’s judicial conduct committee can make a referral to Justice Minister.
This would be for the purpose of asking the Government to consider exercising its powers to have the judge removed under Article 35.4 of the Constitution.
The lack of an investigative mechanism for dealing with misconduct complaints has long been seen as a major weakness in Ireland’s judicial system.
At present, the handling of alleged judicial misconduct is left to the Oireachtas.
However, only two judges have ever faced the prospect of impeachment in the history of the State and this did not occur in either case.
The first impeachment motion, in 1941, was withdrawn, while the second lapsed in 2006 when the judge involved, Brian Curtin, resigned.
The absence of an investigative mechanism was highlighted in 2020 during the pandemic when controversy arose over the attendance of Supreme Court judge Seamus Woulfe at an Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Co Galway.
In the absence of another mechanism, an ad hoc non-statutory review was commissioned by the then Chief Justice, Frank Clarke.
Although the review largely cleared Mr Justice Woulfe, he still faced pressure to resign from Mr Justice Clarke due to concerns significant and irreparable damage had been done to the court.
Mr Justice Woulfe refused to resign and the Government decided it would take no action against him.
In a statement, the Judicial Council, which is made up of the country’s 167 judges, said the new guidelines were founded on the core judicial values of independence, impartiality, integrity, equality, propriety, competence and diligence.
“They underpin the standards and principles which judges in Ireland have today accepted to manage the ethical and conduct issues which they encounter and to help the public understand the role of the judiciary and their professional standards,” it said.
The council also published draft procedures under which members of the public will be able to make complaints.
Complaints can be made by any person who is directly affected by, or who witnessed, conduct that could, if substantiated, constitute judicial misconduct.
Such complaints have to be made within three months, although the time limit can be extended.
Complaints will be deemed admissible where the conduct constitutes a departure from acknowledged standards of judicial conduct or brings the administration of justice into disrepute.
Admissible complaints will be referred to the council’s judicial conduct committee.
The committee then must either refer the complaint for resolution by informal means, if it is satisfied it is appropriate to do so, or refer the complaint to a panel of inquiry for investigation.
Inquiry hearings are to be held in public unless the judicial conduct committee directs they should be held in private “in order to safeguard the administration of justice”.
Determinations on public hearing can be published.
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