Dáil Report: New District Court judges are being mentored under a scheme introduced by the court president, the Dáil was told as the Government defended judicial training practices.
Appointees to the bench sit in court with an experienced judge for a period of time, and funding has been obtained for retired judges "to help assist and train new members of the judiciary", Minister of State Batt O'Keeffe said.
Deputising for Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, Mr O'Keeffe told Labour TD Joe Costello (Dublin Central) that the mentoring system involved "tutoring and lecturing sessions with experienced retired judges and also involves the new judge sitting with an experienced colleague both in a provincial and a Dublin Metropolitan District Court in order to gain both practical and theoretical experience."
A number of judges had recently attended a judicial skills course with the Judicial Studies Committee in Scotland, he said.
Mr Costello had criticised judicial training and said that the selection of judges "leaves a lot to be desired".
In European countries, judges "opt for the judiciary as a career and undergo a third-level course of training. In Ireland there is no formal training or induction course for newly appointed judges or for those who aspire to be judges. One day they are professional advocates, their success depending on the strength of their advocacy and their ability to overcome their opponents. The next day they are sitting on the bench expecting to be even-handed, possessing the wisdom and judgment of Solomon."
Calling for a formal training and induction process, Mr Costello also hit out at sentencing policy said that the assessment of arguments and evidence and the imposition of sentences for offences "are very delicate and demanding skills requiring great maturity, great experience, great balance and great character".
He added that the Judge Curtin case "clearly demonstrates that there is an issue of judicial ethics to be addressed" and there was a "total lack of legislation in the area of judicial ethics". It was high time the Government and the Minister for Justice took their responsibilities seriously "and introduced appropriate legislation".
Mr O'Keeffe said however that judges on appointment "have a wide knowledge of the law and its application". He added that work was well advanced on the drafting of the Judicial Council Bill, which "aims to provide effective remedies for complaints about judicial misbehaviour and its provisions will include lay participation in the investigation of complaints. The Bill will also address the question of judicial training and information and in that context provide a means for the judges to develop guidelines on sentencing." Mr Costello highlighted "the failure of the judiciary to respect the will of the legislature" because only a tiny fraction of mandatory sentences have been imposed" in relation to drugs offences.
A committee on sentencing chaired by Mrs Justice Susan Denham of the Supreme Court is compiling research on sentencing in the Republic, looking at the feasibility of providing a computerised information system on sentences and other penalties imposed for criminal offences, according to Mr O'Keeffe.
