IT’S DUBLIN, M’LADY: FOI probe results in Judicial Office adding Lady Dorrian to Lord Carloway’s 'research' junket on Ireland’s criminal justice system

Court staff add second judge to Ireland judicial junket. THE SECOND most powerful judge in Scotland - Lady Dorrian - the first ever female judge serving as Lord Justice Clerk, has been added to a 2014 judicial junket to Dublin - in which court staff initially claimed was solely attended by Scotland’s current Lord President - Lord Carloway.

And, new details since released for the ‘fact finding’ judicial junket - also reveal Lord Carloway met two Irish senior judges in a Chinese restaurant - to discuss ‘efficiencies in the courts’.

The addition of Lady Dorrian to Lord Carloway’s ‘fact finding’ trip only came about after the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) became involved in a dispute over the determined efforts of the Judiciary of Scotland and Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) to conceal details, destinations and the costs of UK & judicial overseas travel junkets from Freedom of Information enquiries.

In October 2014, DOI reported that an investigation by the Information Commissioner received evidence court officials hurriedly switched the travel destinations of Scotland’s second most powerful judge – the Lord Justice Clerk Lord Carloway, after journalists queried an FOI disclosure, asking for further details of a journey.

Lord Carloway – who was at the time Lord Justice Clerk and has since been elevated to the top post of Lord President earning £222,862.00 a year, was listed in a 2014 FOI disclosure by the Scottish Court Service: Overseas Travel of Scotland’s Judges 2013-2014 as having taken three taxpayer funded trips – a six day trip to Vancouver, Canada costing £5,820.16, a two day trip to Dijon, France, with a claimed cost of £59.15 and a two day trip initially listed as Evidence & Procedure Review Study Visit costing £232.93.

The Scottish Court Service was then contacted by journalists who asked officials to provide a destination of Lord Carloway’s Evidence & Procedure Review Study Visit. In response, a senior SCS official said “Lord Carloway attended the event in Bristol.”

When journalists again contacted the Scottish Court Service asking why one domestic UK trip had seemingly been disclosed when court officials claimed it was too expensive to publish the UK only trips, the same official replied “I queried this with the Judicial Office for Scotland who have asked me to pass on their apologies.  Lord Carloway actually attended the event in Dublin and not in Bristol.

The Judicial Office for Scotland ended further enquiries at the time with the statement “We have checked the information that we provided and we have nothing further to add.”

The switch of Lord Carloway’s destination during a trip taken in March 2014 – from Bristol to Dublin only came about after court staff realised they had previously claimed to journalists, and more recently to the Scottish Information Commissioner, the SCS did not hold data on judges trips inside the UK.

Since the probe by the Scottish Information Commissioner, new documents issued to journalists after a probe lasting several weeks finally revealed: “Lord Carloway and Lady Dorrian visited Dublin to research the Irish criminal justice system to inform the on-going SCS review of evidence and procedure in Scotland, and were accompanied by an SCS Director with lead responsibility for this review work. They flew from Edinburgh to Dublin on the evening of Monday 24 March, and returned on the evening of Wednesday 26 March. They stayed at the Ashling Hotel, Parkgate Street, Dublin on the nights of 24 and 25 March.”

The ‘omission’ of Lady Dorrian from initial documents released in 2014 was blamed by court staff on murky arrangements for judicial air travel which allowed judges to book air tickets at public expense at their own discretion.

However, claims by the Judicial Office that new travel rules introduced by former Lord President Lord Brian Gill put an end to judges helping themselves to tens of thousands of pounds of air flights and trips have since been proved wrong - after continuing investigations revealed further international air junkets, reported here: LORDING IT MORE OPENLY: Scotland’s obsessively secretive judiciary reveal overseas junkets.

The latest crop of jet set junkets for judges reinforce suspicions highly paid Scottish judges on up to £220K a year are spending more time in the air and abroad, than attending to their judicial duties in the courts.

Challenged on the switch of destinations and the addition of Lady Dorrian to Lord Carloway’s ‘fact finding’ trip, a spokesperson for the Judicial Office said: “I have now had the opportunity to look into this.  The error you have highlighted occurred because the booking was not made by the Judicial Office.  We have now amended our records.”

“As you are aware, the Lord President issued new guidance to all judiciary earlier this year in respect of international travel and attendance at conferences.  All requests for funding should be sought only from the Judicial Office.  This will help ensure such errors do not occur in the future.”

Asked to confirm which trip was not booked by the judicial office – Lady Dorrian or Lord Carloway (or both), a spokesperson for the Judicial Office said: “Both. To be clear‎ the costs of the trip (flights, hotel) for both Lady Dorrian and Lord Carloway did not come out of the Judicial Office budget. The costs associated with travel and subsistence do. Therefore we knew about Lord Carloway's trip but incorrectly recorded that information.

A programme for the visit, issued after the addition of Lady Dorrian to the trip, reveals Lord Carloway met up with two senior Irish judges in a Chinese takeaway to discuss the efficiencies of courts.

An entry in the programme for Tuesday 25 March 2014 states: 7:30pm - Meeting with The Hon. Mr. Justice Peter Charleton and His Honour Judge Tony Hunt  to discuss  “The Working Group to Identify and Report on Efficiencies in the Criminal Justice System of the Courts” Venue: Good World Chinese Restaurant, 18 South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2.

However, Lady Dorrian’s name does not appear anywhere in the issued documents for the trip to Dublin.

Evidence and Procedure Review – visit to Dublin, 25-26 March 2014 Programme Date: Tuesday 25thMarch 2014

Arrive to be met by Ms. Elisha D'Arcy, Protocol Officer, Courts Service Venue: Great Hall, Criminal Courts of Justice Parkgate Street, Dublin 8

Tour of Criminal Courts of Justice with Ms. Lisa Scott and Ms. Kelly Mackey, Judicial Researchers

Discussion with Ms. Kelly Mackey & Ms. Lisa Scott, Judicial Researchers working on analysis of relevant Legislation and Law Reform documents Venue: Court No. 13, 4 th Floor, Criminal Courts of Justice

Meeting with The Hon. Mr. Justice Peter Charleton, High Court, The Hon. Mr. Justice Patrick McCarthy, High Court, His Honour Judge Patrick McCartan, Circuit Court, Judge Patricia McNamara, District Court and Ms. Elisha D'Arcy to discuss, inter alia, case management, how the volume of cases is managed, any difficulties in ensuring cases are processed in good time - problems with "churn" in the system, with hearings having to be adjourned/continued etc Venue: Conference room, 9th Floor, Criminal Courts of Justice

Meeting with Mr. Noel Rubotham, Head of Reform and Development, Courts Service to discuss relevant initiatives in the area of criminal procedure reform, including pre-trial case management Venue: Conference room, 9 th Floor, Criminal Courts of Justice

Meeting with Ms. Geraldine Hurley, Principal Officer, Courts Service to discuss the practicalities of giving Video Link evidence and observe/demonstrate Video Link evidence procedure/facilities Venue: 9 th Floor Conference room, Criminal Courts of Justice

Observation of Central Criminal Court in session, The Hon. Mr. Justice Patrick McCarthy presiding Venue: Court No. 10, Criminal Courts of Justice

Observation of Circuit Criminal Court in session, His Honour Judge Patrick McCartan presiding Venue: Court No. 12, Criminal Courts of Justice

Observation of District Criminal Court in session, Judge Patricia McNamara presiding Venue: Court No. 2, Criminal Courts of Justice

Working Lunch hosted by: The Hon. Mrs. Justice Susan Denham, Chief Justice In attendance: The Hon. Mr. Justice Peter Charleton, The Hon. Mr. Justice Patrick McCarthy, His Honour Judge Patrick McCartan, Judge Patricia McNamara, Mr. Brendan Ryan, CEO, Courts Service, Registrar, Ms. Elisha D'Arcy Venue: Conference Room 9 thFloor, Criminal Courts of Justice

Depart for Children Court Observation of Children Court in session, Judge John O'Connor presiding Venue: Children Court, Smithfield, Dublin 7

Depart for Child Care/ Family Law Court Observation of Child Care Courts in session, Judge Brendan Toale and Judge Colin Daly and Her Honour Judge Rosemary Horgan, President of the District Court presiding Venue: Court No. 20, 40 and 49 Child Care Courts, Dolphin House, East Essex Street, Dublin 2

Observation of Family Law Courts in session, Judge Marie Quirke and Judge Deirdre Gearty presiding Venue: Court No. 41 and 47 Family Law Courts, Dolphin House, East Essex Street

16.00p.m. - 17.00p.m. Discussion on Child Care Court and Family Law Court with Her Honour Judge Rosemary Horgan, President of the District Court Judge Marie Quirke, Judge Brendan Toale, Judge Colin Daly and Judge Deirdre Gearty with particular emphasis on interviewing children and taking evidence from children Venue: 3rd Floor conference room, Dolphin House

19.30p.m. Meeting with The Hon. Mr. Justice Peter Charleton and His Honour Judge Tony Hunt to discuss "The Working Group to Identify and Report on Efficiencies in the Criminal Justice System of the Courts" Venue: Good World Chinese Restaurant, 18 South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2.

Date: Wednesday 26thMarch 2014: 09.00 a.m. - 11.30 a.m. Meeting with Members of An Garda Siochana, led by Chief Superintendent Patrick Leahy, Dublin Metropolitan Region, North Central Division - Powerpoint Presentations

11.40a.m. Meeting with Ms. Clare Loftus, Director of Public Prosecutions, accompanied by Ms. Liz Howlin, Head of the Directing Division and Mr. Peter Mullan, Chief Prosecution Solicitor -
Venue: Office of the DPP, Infirmary Road, Dublin 7

13.00p.m. Working lunch with The Hon. Mr. Justice Peter Charleton, The Hon. Mr. Justice John Edwards, High Court, His Honour Judge Martin Nolan, Circuit Court, Judge John O’Connor, District Court and Ms. Elisha D’Arcy Venue: Conference Room 9thFloor, Criminal Courts of Justice

14. 00p. m. Meeting with Law Reform Commission Commissioners Ms. Finola Flanagan and Tom O'Malley, BL, Law Reform Commission - Venue: Criminal Courts of Justice, Parkgate Street, 5th floor (Room 503.6)

15.15p.m. Meeting with Mr. Jimmy Martin, Assistant Secretary, Criminal Law Reform Division, Department of Justice & Law Reform to discuss the Department's planned legislative initiatives in this area in particular the development of a Criminal Procedure Bill dealing with certain pre-trial procedures, video link hearings and certain other matters. Venue: Criminal Courts of Justice, Parkgate Street, 5th floor (Room 503.6)

16.15 p.m. – 17.00p.m Meeting with Mr. Ken Murphy, Director General and Members of the Criminal Law Committee of the Law Society of Ireland, Shalom Binchy (Committee Chair), James MacGuill (former Committee Chair and former President of the Law Society), Dara Robinson (another former Committee Chair) and Robert Purcell Venue: Criminal Courts of Justice, Parkgate Street, 5th floor (Room 503.6)

Previous articles on the judiciary’s use of public cash to fund judicial overseas junkets can be found here: Overseas travel of Scottish judges.