One day in the mid-2000s, the Supreme Court reached a quiet landmark when, for the first time in its history, it sat for a case without a single man sitting on the dais. That was possible because, for a brief period in 2005-06, there were three women judges on the court: Susan Denham, Catherine McGuinness and Fidelma Macken.
But the trend didn't hold. Ms Justice McGuinness retired in 2006, Ms Justice Macken last year, and since then Chief Justice Denham has been the sole woman on the court of eight – a striking imbalance that was often talked about around the court.
The news that the Government is to promote two respected High Court judges, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy and Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, will go some way to putting that right. But the appointments will be welcomed, above all, because the two nominees are clever and experienced judges who will add to the court.
Judge Laffoy, known for her exacting but sensible and courteous style, has been on the High Court since 1995, in which role she has overseen a huge range of cases. She was the first chair of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, but resigned in 2003 saying that the commission had “never been properly enabled by the Government to fulfil satisfactorily the functions conferred on it by the Oireachtas”.
Similarly, Judge Dunne has won a reputation – first as a Circuit Court judge and then, since 2004, on the High Court – for being fair, firm and compassionate. She has presided over some of the highest-profile cases dealing with the banking collapse, including cases involving Seán Quinn and his family – and had been spoken of as a possible Supreme Court judge. In 2006, she made a landmark judgment in the case of Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan, saying that marriage was understood under the 1937 Constitution to be confined to people of the opposite sex.
The institution the two new judges join will be bigger than it has ever been. The announcement came a day after the President signed a Bill that increases the Supreme Court from eight judges to 10 – a move aimed at cutting into the huge four-year backlog of cases that has created a bottleneck at the apex of the courts system.
The long-term response to the crisis is the establishment of a Court of Appeal, the subject of a referendum due to take place in early October. But even if the people vote for that proposal, it could take a year or more before the new court is up and running.
The Government hopes the expansion of the Supreme Court, enabling it to sit in two banks of five judges (for constitutional cases) or three banks of three (for more routine cases) will ease the backlog over the coming year.
The expectation is that, by not replacing retirees, the court will revert to eight members when the waiting times have been reduced.
