10 September 2008
Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has spoken at the ceremony to mark the opening of the new legal year in Northern Ireland.
The Right Honourable Jack Straw MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice:
Lord Chief Justice, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am delighted to be here for a second time as Lord Chancellor to celebrate the opening of the new legal year in Northern Ireland.
I extend my gratitude to the Lord Chief Justice for inviting me to take part in today's proceedings.
I'd like to congratulate Lord Justice Coghlin on his swearing in as a Lord Justice of Appeal, Mr Justice McCloskey on his appointment as a High Court Judge, and the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, who was called to the Northern Ireland Inner Bar earlier this morning.
And may I offer my congratulations to all those called to the Bar today. It is a special day, and a proud day for you and your families. The passage of time hasn't diminished the sense of excitement and of achievement that I remember from my own call in 1972. That was very special, but this ceremony has an exceptional quality, taking place here in the very heart of the judicial system of Northern Ireland.
I wish all of you every success. I was struck, reading the names of those being called today, by the fact that there are 16 women and eight men, and was encouraged by this latest evidence of the progress being made, in Northern Ireland at least, towards a more diverse profession. I hope that in time we will see not only two thirds women being called to the Bar but two thirds of women on the bench.
You are embarking on your careers at an important and exciting time for Northern Ireland, and you are joining practitioners well-respected for their legal expertise and judgement, but also in many cases for their bravery too.
We are reminded of that not least by the commemorative plaque down the halls here at the Royal Courts of Justice. Dedicated to five judges [William John Staunton, Rodger Hugh Conaghan, Robert Martin McBirney, William Patrick Doyle and Maurice Wright Gibson], it bears the inscription: 'In memory of the members of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland holding judicial office who lost their lives upholding the rule of law'.
God willing, a line has finally been drawn under a turbulent and bloody past. Northern Ireland is now visibly thriving, with a future even brighter still.
Devolution represents the opportunity for all the people of Northern Ireland to come together to shape this future. And the continuing progress towards the devolution of policing and justice responsibilities forms an important part of this. We all hope this will come to a successful conclusion. There needs to be a conclusion.
One of the consequences will be that the vast majority of my current responsibilities in Northern Ireland as Lord Chancellor will transfer to ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive. I think this is both right and proper.
This will mark another stage in the change and modernisation of the otherwise ancient office I have the honour of holding. No longer is the Lord Chancellor a judge, nor head of the judiciary - here, as in England and Wales, that responsibility now falls to the Lord Chief Justice - nor are they Speaker of the House of Lords.
But for all of the changes to my office seen over the course of centuries, there is something which will remain constant: the duty of Lord Chancellors to defend the independence of the judiciary and uphold the rule of law.
That is the oath I swore upon taking office, they are the principles I stand by today.
Let me finish these brief words by wishing you a productive, successful and happy year ahead.
Thank you.