Who are the Judiciary?

The Judiciary are those appointed by the President of Ireland under Article 35.1 of the Constitution of Ireland. However, this function of appointing judges is not one of Presidential discretion. Rather, and in accordance with Article 13.9 of the Constitution of Ireland, when the President of Ireland appoints a judge he does so “on the advice of the Government”.

Once appointed a judge is required to make the Declaration provided for in Article 34.5.1 of the Constitution of Ireland not later than 10 days after the date of appointment. In the event of failure to do so within the said ten day period the judge is deemed to have vacated his or her office.

The declaration required by the Constitution is in the following terms:

In the presence of Almighty God I [name of judge] do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my knowledge and power execute the office of Chief Justice [or as the case may be] without fear or favour, affection or ill-will towards any man, and that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws. May God direct and sustain me.

Precedence and Rank within the Judiciary is as follows:

(a) the Chief Justice shall rank first;

(b) the President of the Court of Appeal shall rank after the Chief Justice;

(c) the President of the High Court shall rank after the President of the Court of Appeal;

(d) then shall rank the judges of the Supreme Court who are former Chief Justices each according to priority of his or her appointment as Chief Justice;

(e) next shall rank the other judges of the Supreme Court, other than the ex officio judges of that Court to whom paragraphs (f) and (g) relate, each according to priority of his or her first appointment as an ordinary judge of the Supreme Court;

(f) then shall rank the judges of the Court of Appeal who are ex officio judges of the Supreme Court (being former Presidents of the Court of Appeal or of the High Court) each according to priority of his or her appointment as President of the Court of Appeal or of the High Court respectively;

(g) next shall rank the judges of the High Court who are ex officio judges of the Supreme Court (being former Presidents of the High Court), each according to priority of his or her appointment as President of the High Court;

(h) then shall rank the other judges of the Court of Appeal each according to priority of his or her first appointment as an ordinary judge of that Court;

(i) next shall rank the other judges of the High Court, other than the ex officio judges of that Court to whom paragraph (j) or (k) relate, each according to priority of his or her first appointment as an ordinary judge of the High Court;

(j) then shall rank the President of the Circuit Court by virtue of being an additional judge of the High Court;

(k) next shall rank the other judges of the Circuit Court who are ex officio judges of the High Court (being former Presidents of the Circuit Court to whom section 7 (3) of the Courts (No. 2) Act 1997 relates) each according to the priority of his or her appointment as President of the Circuit Court;

(l) the President of the District Court (ex officio a judge of the Circuit Court);

(m) former Presidents of the District Court (ex officio judges of the Circuit Court) according to priority of his or her appointment as President of the District Court;

(n) the judges of the Circuit Court, other than judges of the District Court who (being a President or a former President of the District Court) are ex-officio judges of the Circuit Court, each according to priority of his or her appointment as a judge of the Circuit Court;

(o) other Judges of the District Court, each according to priority of his or her appointment as a judge of the District Court.

The Courts Service website maintains a full and up to date list of the names and rank of each member of the serving judiciary.

Contrary to a misconception sometimes held, neither the Master of the High Court nor the Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicators are members of the judiciary. They are what are known as quasi-judicial office holders.

Gender within the Irish judiciary

At present 42% of Irish judges are female. In the District Court, almost 44% or 27 out of 62 are female. The Circuit Court has 42% female representation. In the High Court, women constitute 38% of the judges. In the Court of Appeal, 9 of the 17 judges are female equalling 53% and in the Supreme Court the figure is 33%

The Number of Judges – how Ireland compares internationally

Ireland has the lowest number of judges per one hundred thousand inhabitants of 47 countries examined by the European Commission in 2020. The following are the number of judges per one hundred thousand inhabitants by country. These figures are in respect of full time professional judges.

    • Albania – 10.79
    • Andorra – 34.61
    • Armenia – 8.23
    • Austria – 28.98
    • Azerbaijan – 5.19
    • Belgium – 13.23
    • Bosnia and Herzegovina – 29.33
    • Bulgaria – 31.58
    • Croatia – 40.71
    • Cyprus – 14.06
    • Czech Republic – 28.10
    • Denmark – 6.64
    • Estonia – 17.60
    • Finland – 19.46
    • France – 11.16
    • Georgia – 8.82
    • Germany – 25.01
    • Greece – 36.02
    • Hungary – 28.20
    • Iceland – 17.35
    • Ireland – 3.27
    • Israel – 7.76
    • Italy – 11.86
    • Kazakhstan – 12.68
    • Latvia – 29.05
    • Lithuania – 26.47
    • Luxembourg – 36.08
    • Malta – 8.16
    • Moldova – 17.55
    • Monaco – 104.30
    • Montenegro – 49.84
    • Morocco – 7.52
    • Netherlands – 14.86
    • North Macedonia – 23.74
    • Norway – 11.2
    • Poland – 25.23
    • Portugal – 19.42
    • Romania – 23.98
    • Serbia – 38.11
    • Slovakia – 23.92
    • Slovenia – 41.49
    • Spain – 11.24
    • Sweden 11.56
    • Switzerland – 15.01
    • Turkey – 17.20
    • Ukraine – 13.09
    • UK – England and Wales – N/A
    • UK – Northern Ireland – 3.90
    • UK – Scotland – 3.70