The presence of women on the bench in Ireland has "increased greatly" over the past 25 years.

The Courts Service says in 1996, female judges made up just 13% of the total across all courts.

That figure now stands at 38%: a threefold increase in a generation.

In the Supreme Court there are nine judges, four of whom are women - that is 45%.

Of the 15 judges in the Court of Appeal, seven of these are women - making up 47%.

And at High Court level there are 11 women among the 40 judges - or 28%.

In the Circuit Court 42% of judges who sit are women - and they make up 16 of the 38 in total.

All four female judges of the Supreme Court sat on the bench together on Thursday | Image via @CourtsServiceIE on Twitter

And at District Court level 23 of the 63 judges are women, making up some 37%.

Overall, there are 167 judges in Ireland - of whom 63 or 38% - are women.

On Thursday morning, all four female judges of the Supreme Court sat on the bench together for the first time.

This was the first time a panel of five judges of the Supreme Court consisted of four female judges.

The court was made up of Chief Justice Frank Clarke, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley, Ms Justice Mary Irvine and Ms Justice Marie Baker.

In recent years, the numbers of female judges in the court has been high - and four have sat before as part of a full court of seven.

But Thursday was the first time such a large percentage of the court sitting was female - 80%.