Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Burton will be aware that I sit in this House as a Deputy for the same constituency as her. I am not here in any professional capacity. The Government takes legal advice from the Office of the Attorney General. The advice it has received in this instance is that it would not be in accordance with the Constitution to apply this measure to the President, to members of the Judiciary or to military judges. When the members of the Government decided, following last autumn's budget, to make a voluntary gift of 10% of their salaries to the State, the President promptly announced that she would follow suit.

The advice I have received from the Attorney General on the general position under this legislation is that Article 35.5 of the Constitution prevents the Government from reducing the remuneration of a judge during his or her continuance in office. There is a similar provision, in an earlier section of the Constitution, in respect of the President. While it is not expressed in the same terms, it is the same in substance. There is a constitutional bar on doing what Deputy Burton has asked me to do. As she is perfectly well aware, I have two options in such circumstances. One is that the judges would consider the option of a voluntary gift. I assume that is a matter they would not entertain until these Houses complete their deliberation on this Bill. The other option is the question of a referendum on the subject.

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