A bill has been introduced in the Dáil to remove the reference to God in the oath of office sworn by judges.

The Judicial Oath of Office Bill would require a referendum to change a number of aspects of the current oath.

Fine Gael TD Barry Ward introduced the legislation earlier today.

“‘In the presence of Almighty God’ is the term that's used in the Irish oath and then that sentence at the end, ‘May God direct and sustain me’,” he said.

“Now I'm a Christian, I believe, I don't have a problem with that.

“But that definitely is not true of every judge or every person who's appointed a judge under the Constitution.”

Judge holding gavel close-up. Image: Alamy