SERVING SENIOR judges face pay cuts of nearly one-third if the Government’s planned referendum on judicial remuneration is passed later in the year.
The judiciary were informed by Minister for Justice Alan Shatter yesterday that pay rates for senior judges would be reduced by 31 per cent, in line with the new rules to apply for top earners across the public sector agreed by Cabinet on Tuesday.
There is a constitutional ban on reducing the pay of serving judges. However, the Government is planning to hold a referendum in October which, if passed, will permit the new lower pay rates.
Yesterday, the Government said pay rates for new judges would be cut by 25-31 per cent. The pay of the next chief justice, to be appointed in the months ahead, will fall from €295,916 to €203,425. The pay of the President is linked to that of the chief justice plus 10 per cent.
Under the Government’s new measures, all staff in the public service earning more than €200,000 will be asked to make a voluntary waiver of 15 per cent of pay. However, hospital consultants are to be exempt for the present.
Senior staff in commercial State companies earning more than €250,000 will also be asked by the Government to make a similar voluntary waiver of pay.
The Government has also set out new ceilings on payments for new chief executives appointed to commercial State companies.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said last night that the new voluntary pay cuts being sought were in addition to those that may have already been taken.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin signalled he wanted to see the 16 personnel working for the National Treasury Management Agency and the National Asset Management Agency, who currently receive more than €200,000, also taking the voluntary pay cut. These staff were recruited on personal contracts and are not covered by public service pay norms.
The new policy deals only with pay at top level in the public sector. The Minister said bonuses were something that would have to be examined. However, the Government has asked State companies not to pay bonuses this year.
The Dáil was told in April there were 28 people in the public sector who earn over €250,000 per year.
These include nine employees of commercial State companies, one paid by the Oireachtas, five staff of non-commercial State agencies, four people in the education sector and nine judges. The group includes President Mary McAleese, the Chief Justice, and the chief executives of the Health Service Executive and the National Roads Authority.
The Dáil was also told a “certain number” of academic consultants at professorial level receive more than €250,000 a year.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said Minister for Health James Reilly had indicated that he would engage with hospital consultants on their pay.
However, the Department of Health was unable to state the nature of the proposals on pay which the Minister intended to bring forward in relation to hospital consultants or when these would be tabled.
A spokesman for the Minister said that precise arrangements would have to go back to Cabinet.
He also said that talks were under way in relation to consultants’ work practice reforms under the Croke Park agreement.
Fianna Fáil spokesman on public sector reform Seán Fleming welcomed the move to reduce pay at senior levels in the public service but he asked why the new rates would not apply to people currently on massive salaries over €250,000.
Mr Fleming also asked why the ESB chief executive would be exempt from the €250,000 salary cap.
“The Minister must also supply the number of hospital consultants who are being paid in excess of €200,000 and how this pay ceiling will apply to them,” added Mr Fleming.
