EXCLUSIVE: Judge Bernadette Owens appointed new sitting District Court Judge for Longford and Westmeath

The announcement was made yesterday by the Government, almost two months on since Judge Owens’ predecessor Judge Seamus Hughes passed away at the age of 69.

A native of Tullamore, Co Offaly, Judge Owens had been strongly tipped to take over the role having presided over district court affairs in both counties during Judge Hughes’ absence from the bench over the past 12 months.

A solicitor for over three decades, in January 2017 she was formally appointed a district court judge by the Government.

During her time on the bench in District Court Area 9, Judge Owens has become known for her direct and meticulous approach.

In October last year, she took issue at the increasing number of people who were failing to turn up for court cases, describing it as “simply not good enough”.

Judge Owens said she was someone who much preferred “looking into the colour” of a defendant's eyes when cases come before her at district court level.

“It’s not the way business is done, that people don’t turn up in court,” she said.

The news comes amid ongoing concerns at an apparent dearth of judges to administer justice across almost all sectors of the judicial system.

Last year, circuit court Judge Keenan Johnson said Longford required its own full time circuit court judge to tackle a major increase in cases being sent for trial.

Jury trials, delayed over the course of the pandemic due to Covid-19 restrictions, resulted in a sizable backlog of cases to be dealt with.

"On the basis of what's going on, it seems Longford would need a full time Circuit Court judge to deal with all these trials," he said.

Judge Johnston said he had been considering contacting the President of the High Court in a bid to secure a judge exclusively to Longford Circuit court to aid with trials.

Those comments preceded remarks made by outgoing President of the High Court, Ms Justice Mary Irvine in July.

“It is important that the ordinary citizen, the victim of crime, somebody who has a family law case, somebody who may have been unfairly dismissed from their job or may be awaiting an award of damages to mind a catastrophically injured child, also have timely and effective access to justice,” she said.

“Timely justice must be for everybody and not just for those involved in cases which attract political attention.”

The Leader has made contact with the Department of Justice and is currently awaiting the release of a statement.