Sir, – Taken together, the two referendums proposed by the Government give the appearance of an attack on one of the pillars of our democracy, an independent judiciary. This is particularly worrying, as successive executives have effectively neutralised the power of the other pillar, the legislature.
These referendums, if passed, would allow the executive to set up a parallel inquiry process “in the public interest”, and then effectively threaten the financial situation of any judge who deigned to find fault with such a process.
This is being proposed under the guise of protecting the public purse from extravagant legal bills, inequitable judicial contributions and unseemly delays in obtaining answers through prolonged legal challenges.
These red herrings have already been dealt with through either the role of the Taxing Master, previous Supreme Court judgements or recent legislation, as Noel Whelan has shown (Opinion Analysis, September 17th). As such, I intend rejecting both propositions.
The judicial system has numerous problems, but reducing its ability to give independent opinion will not solve them, and is ultimately dangerous.
I am not a lawyer, and have no legal background. – Yours, etc,