Why are the Manx judiciary, arguably the pinnacle of the public sector, inured from all the privations and pressures of austerity that Allan and his CoMin buddies demand of public sector workers and others?
Salaries paid to UK judges (including Manx deemsters who are analogued to UK scales) are the highest in the world. Ireland, which the Chief Minister said we can all take lessons from following a recent ‘fact-finding’ mission, had judges only slightly less well of than the Brits until the Dublin government acted.
Several years ago Enda Kenny, Ireland’s Taoiseach, announced that the ‘be-wigged ones’ could not expect to escape that axe of austerity that was falling on everyone else. Despite much opposition from a group used to privilege and getting its own way Kenny and his Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, pressed on with the reforms. The result was that by 2013 the Irish judiciary were claiming their salaries had been cut by a third.
In these difficult economic times, as other classes of public and private workers have had to endure the privation of cuts or freezes in pay, these denizens of the high courts have been immune from such realities.
Kenny had to overcome not just opposition from the judiciary themselves but also constitutional difficulties that required the issue to be put to a referendum.
Not surprisingly, the public, given the opportunity to express an opinion on the salary and lifestyle of judges, overwhelmingly supported the move in the referendum by four to one.
Of course no similar cuts have occurred in the Isle of Man, and the judiciary here continues to enjoy the cosseted lifestyle analogued to the UK they have always had although everyone else is suffering the privations of austerity.
In these difficult economic times, as other classes of public and private workers have had to endure real time cuts or freezes in pay, this chosen few lolling around in the high court have been immune from such realities.
Accurate determinations of pay and pensions of this island elite are hard to come by.
Trying to sort out details of their current pension arrangements via the PSPA website is a bit like wading through treacle!
One interesting fact, however, is that prior to April 1, 2012, the various pension schemes’ accounting records were maintained on a cash receipts and payments basis and there was no requirement to prepare financial statements.
It seems our learned friends were not required to maintain a level of pensions transparency similar to other public servants so I suppose it is a sign of progress that a properly maintained record is now is place.
Perhaps the media could send of one of those queries they like to submit periodically on the public sector and in this instance shine a bright light on the mysterious world of judicial pensions and pay.
Returning to those reforms in Ireland, Justice Minister Shatter, also suggested five years ago that the Irish judiciary might make additional savings by working longer hours and having shorter court vacations.
Such changes might be appropriate here given that the last time I saw a deemster’s job advertised it specified ‘no pre-determined hours of work’. Nice job if you can get it!
The government would be in a win-win situation here because having spent the last few years impressing on the Isle of Man public sector the need for reform they could urge the deemsters to set an example by starting at the top.
The final icing on the cake here, of course, is the business of allocating these sinecures for life involves the Crown and our old friend the Lieutenant Governor so reforming the existing system in conjunction with the Manx government and his real bosses in London would give him something useful to do as well!
So is a cut in deemsters’ (and other’s) pay similar to that which occurred in Ireland coming? Don’t hold your breath! However the government is continuing to make savings via cuts.
Last week it cut unemployment benefit.
That’s right, start at the bottom!