Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Finance the salaries which would be payable to members of the Judiciary if the legislation enacted to provide for the public sector pension deductions and the public sector wage deductions implemented pursuant to budgetary measures adopted in 2009, applied to judicial remuneration in the same manner as it applies to public sector workers in receipt of comparable salaries; and the specific reductions which would have been effected in judicial remuneration in respect of judges appointed to the District, Circuit, High and Supreme Court. [5346/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In its report late last year, the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector concluded that the Constitution precluded them from recommending a reduction in judicial pay. Had they not been so precluded, they would have considered a downward adjustment. For the same reason the pension levy was not applied to the judiciary, though many judges have contributed an amount on a voluntary basis. As a consequence, members of the judiciary were exempted from the application of the pension related deduction and pay reduction legislation applied to public servants under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts 2009.

If the Constitution permitted the remuneration of judges to be reduced, and if the 2009 Acts therefore applied to them, the estimated effect of the application of the legislation to the pay rates of the judiciary is set out in the table below.

As I indicated in Budget 2010, the Chief Justice and the Presidents of the Courts have urged all Judges to make appropriate voluntary contributions from salary in respect of the levy and I will make provision in the Finance Bill to facilitate these payments.