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EIGHTY-SEVEN JUDGES were the subject of complaints last year to the Judicial Council, but just one complaint was determined to be admissible.

That is according to the 2025 Report of the Judicial Conduct Committee which shows that the 226 complaints received last year represent a 17% decrease on the 273 complaints received in 2024.

The Judicial Conduct Committee report – contained in the 2025 Annual Report for the Judicial Council – shows that one individual made 16 separate complaints against the judiciary with another individual lodging 13 separate complaints and a third individual making 11 separate complaints.

The report reveals that the JCC established a panel of inquiry to investigate the single admissible complaint admitted for 2025.

The report states that the investigation “was ongoing at the end of the year”.

In relation to a separate complaint deemed admissible before the JCC, the report states that a panel of inquiry, established in 2024 for the purpose of investigating a complaint in 2023, was discontinued in 2025.

The 87 judges complained of last year is 21pc down on the 111 judges subject to complaints in 2024.

The report states that 256 complaints were before the Registrar for consideration in 2025 due to an additional 30 complaints from 2024 on hand at the start of 2025 that had to be considered.

The report found that 235 complaints were determined not to be admissible, four complaints concluded because the Act ceased to apply; nine complaints were withdrawn and seven complaints remained for consideration on 31 December 2025.

Secretary to the Judicial Council, Kevin O’Neill stated that the majority of complaints “arose in the higher volume District Court with a notable proportion in that court from unrepresented parties in family law proceedings”.

He said: “In the Superior Courts, it is undoubtedly the position that a large proportion of complaints emanate from the same individuals making several complaints.

O’Neill stated: “Generally speaking, it remains the case that our judges’ conduct is of the highest standards, illustrated by the tiny proportion of complaints made compared with the many thousands of cases dealt with.”

O’Neill states that it is essential that the function to evaluate judicial complaints operates and be seen to operate independently, with a robust and efficient process deployed.

He said: “The absence of such a system for decades served to present judges as appearing to be immune from any form of scrutiny in relation to their conduct.

He said “that is no longer the case, and what is now in existence for more than three years means that complainants can seek to have judges’ conduct examined, and if conduct described in a complaint reaches the threshold for admissibility, there is a fit for purpose process under the Act for having that investigated.”

The report states that it is unfortunately the position that 173 of the complaints considered by the Registrar – 73% of the total – were found inadmissible as relating to decisions made by judges in cases with which the complainant was dissatisfied.

The report reveals that in 2025, judicial review proceedings commenced against the Complaints Review Committee and those proceedings were ongoing at the end of 2025.

On the work of the Judicial Conduct Committee in 2025, Chief Justice and chair of the Judicial Council, Donal O’Donnell stated that “it is apparent again from the 2025 data that on a daily basis judges in Ireland hold themselves to the high standards which they themselves set by their adoption of conduct guidelines”.

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