Office of Judge of the District Court 2025/2026

The Judicial Appointments Commission launches the selection process for the Office of Judge of the District Court 2025/2026

District Court vacancies advertised on www.judicialappointments.ie

The Judicial Appointments Commission has received a request from the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration in accordance with the provisions of the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2023 for the Commission to make recommendations of candidates for appointment to the Office of Judge of the District Court.  The Commission also refers to its obligations and powers under Section 42(3) of the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2023.

The vacancies include (a) one existing vacancy (b) anticipated vacancies that will arise in respect of certain mandatory statutory retirements prior to 31st July 2026 and (c) consequential vacancies arising from the appointment of any current District Court Judges to other judicial positions prior to 31st July 2026.

Accordingly, the Application Process is now open, and it is proposed that the applications will be held and considered by the Commission in respect of all such vacancies which arise in the period up to 31st July 2026.

The closing date for applications and references is 5pm on Thursday 15th January 2026.

Applicants must register, complete and submit their application through the online portal which can be accessed from the Commission’s website at www.judicialappointments.ie/Vacancies  

Applicants are encouraged to contact their referees as early as possible in the process to allow referees to have sufficient time to complete and submit the reference.

The Reference Form and Guidance on References are available on www.judicialappointments.ie/Documentation

Please note that applications and references must be submitted by the closing date of Thursday 15th January 2026. It is the responsibility of each applicant to ensure that references are submitted on time.

Further details, including the online portal for the selection process for the Office of Judge of the District Court, are available on www.judicialappointments.ie

Further Information:

Section 57 of the Act outlines a process by which the Commission must adopt a judicial selection statement which includes a statement of selection procedures and a statement of requisite knowledge, skills and attributes.  This process entails an extensive period of time for the different stages to be completed prior to the finalisation of the judicial selection statement.

Section 60 of the Act provides for a transitional arrangement whereby the Commission may proceed with a selection process in advance of the adoption of a judicial selection statement.  The Commission will conduct the selection process under the transitional arrangement until such time as the judicial selection statement is finalised.  The transitional arrangement will be in accordance to procedures and criteria determined by the Commission and which are consistent with the components of the judicial selection scheme contained in sections 58-59 of the Act.

The provisional procedures and provisional criteria adopted by the Commission on an interim basis as a transitional arrangement are provided for in two documents.

The two documents are the provisional Indicative Statement of Selection Procedure and the provisional Indicative Statement of Requisite Knowledge, Skills and Attributes.  These documents are available on www.judicialappointments.ie