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Tuesday, 21 December, 1999, 13:08 GMT

Barristers boycott oath ceremony

NI High Court: Legal challenge to legal oath

Two Belfast barristers have boycotted the ceremony at which they were due to be formally recognised as Queen's Counsel.

Seamus Treacy and Barry Macdonald stayed away because they are waiting judgement in their legal challenge to the oath of allegiance to the crown, which new QCs have to make.

The swearing-in ceremony went ahead on Tuesday with the remaining ten barristers appointed last month taking their oath before Northern Ireland's Lord Chief Justice, Sir Robert Carswell.

Seamus Treacy and Barry Macdonald stayed away from the ceremony in Belfast High Court because they said the declaration to "well and truly serve the Queen". is "discriminatory" and affronts their political beliefs.

Solicitors acting for the two barristers said they could not take part in the ceremony following the adjournment of their case on Monday.

Barristers told to take oath

Madden and Finucane said: "The Lord Chief Justice informed (the chairman of the Bar) that he would only permit them to participate in the ceremony if they made the declaration to serve the Queen.

"Mr Macdonald and Mr Treacy are not prepared to make a declaration in terms other than those already recommended by the Bar Council, their governing professional body."

The barristers were granted leave to apply for a judicial review of the Lord Chancellor's insistence that barristers in Northern Ireland must make the same declaration as those in England and Wales, last week.

Their action is being backed by the Bar Council.

The next hearing is expected to take place in the first week of the new year.

Northern Ireland oath

The Bar Council of Northern Ireland adopted a new declaration in June, 1997, which calls on new QCs to promise that they will serve "all they may be called upon to serve", rather than requiring them to pledge allegiance to the Queen.

The barristers' solicitor Michael Lavery said in court that the English declaration was contrary to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement peace accord, which recognises that a Northern Ireland person could be either British or Irish, or both.

He said the Agreement made it clear that a person should not be required to do anything which diminished their esteem or was contrary to their political principles.

"It is anomalous that a person can become a minister in the government and not be required to make such a declaration," Mr Lavery said.

He referred to an affidavit sworn by Brian Fee, QC, Chairman of the Bar Council, who said he expected the new form of declaration adopted by the Council to be used at next Tuesday's swearing in ceremony.

Mr Lavery said the Bar Council clearly took the view that the Queen "should not be singled out from other potential clients".

"The reality is that in Northern Ireland there are perceived reasons for inserting those words," he said.

'Implicit recognition of Queen'

"Rightly or wrongly some people may find difficulty in saying they will well and truly serve the Queen.

"The Good Friday Agreement recognises those people who do not regard the Queen and the institutions of the State in the same way as the majority of the people of Northern Ireland.

"Traditionally, the nationalist position is that the Queen is not the head of the country and that Ireland should be united.

"This declaration contains the implicit recognition of the Queen as the Head of State and the intention is to get QCs to reaffirm that."

The case harks back to another High Court action four years ago, when Catholic barrister Philip Magee, 48, secured the scrapping of an oath of allegiance to the Queen.

This led to a wide-ranging inquiry into the appointment of QCs which resulted in the Bar Council adopting a new declaration.

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