Thomas Pringle TD
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Pringle says judicial membership needs to be expanded and inclusive

Pringle says judicial membership needs to be expanded and inclusive

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said a recent European Commission report shows a need for increased investment in judicial resources, as he supported an increase in the number of judges in the country.

At the same time, Deputy Pringle said he believed the system needed more judges than the bill calls for and said judicial membership must also be inclusive and intersectional.

Addressing the Dáil on Wednesday, Deputy Pringle said he welcomed the bill’s intention to lift caps on the number of judges in Ireland and to appoint 24 additional judges.

The deputy said: “A recent report published by the European Commission shows that Ireland’s spending on courts and prosecution services lagged behind the European median figures significantly. It found that Ireland had the lowest figure in terms of judges per 100,000 people, at just 3.27, well below the median of 17.6. It also showed that Ireland had the lowest number of public prosecutors, just 2.6 per 100,000, compared to the European median figure of 11.1.

“This shows a need for increased investment in judicial resources and so I welcome the appointment of additional judges by the end of this year and the possibility of more being appointed next year.

“I’m glad that the Minister recognises that timely access to justice is of central importance to society. Competent and modern courts are essential to any democracy and the current backlog of cases as a result of Covid-19 is not acceptable. At the moment there remains a backlog of 66,000 summonses in the Irish courts,” he said.

The deputy was speaking on the Courts Bill 2023.

Deputy Pringle said: “We need to ensure that our citizens have reasonable access to justice, but unfortunately the current judicial numbers do not allow for this. 

“The appointment of more judges will go a long way to ensuring better access, but 24 is not nearly enough, I believe, and so I would urge the Minister to ensure more appointments are made in the very near future.

“However, I also believe that it is not enough to merely appoint more judges, we need to ensure that our judicial membership is inclusive and intersectional. 

“The report by the European Commission showed that the percentage of female judges in Ireland in 2020 was significantly lower than the EU average of 56%, with just 39% of judges in Ireland being female. It also showed a significant underrepresentation of women in the highest roles of the judicial system.

“Unfortunately the research did not look at the underrepresentation of minority groups but I don’t think we need a report to tell us that there is a severe lack of judges from minority backgrounds. Our judges should reflect our society and so I feel that this legislation is a missed opportunity to address issues of underrepresentation of women and of minority groups, and I hope that the Minister will consider addressing issues of underrepresentation in upcoming legislation. 

“We need to ensure sufficient diversity of judges to help counteract unconscious bias from developing and to promote inclusion within Irish courts,” he said.