The Chief Justice has said the failure to establish a judicial council is affecting Ireland's reputation internationally and is a matter of real concern.
Ms Justice Susan Denham expressed her concern in a statement issued to mark the beginning of the new legal year.
She said a judicial council was first proposed 20 years ago but successive governments had failed to progress it with the urgency it deserved.
The Chief Justice has repeatedly urged the Government to bring in legislation to establish a council which would establish best practice for the education, support and training of judges, and provide a code of conduct and a structure to deal with complaints about judges.
In her statement, Ms Justice Denham said a judicial council was a necessary element of the infrastructure of a modern democratic state and provided an important safeguard of the separation of powers.
She said a judicial council would be a representative body for the judiciary, a forum for the professional development of judges and would set standards in the area of judicial ethics.
It would be an essential support to the independence of the judiciary and would be instrumental in promoting public confidence in the administration of justice, she added.
The council would provide a mechanism for the investigation and handling of complaints about judicial conduct and would allow for a sentencing committee to be set up.
Ms Justice Denham said Ireland was due to respond this week to an international anti-corruption committee.
The Group of States against Corruption, established by the Council of Europe, made five recommendations relating to the judiciary in Ireland, in late 2014.
It advocated establishing a Judicial Council.
It also recommended that the current system of selecting, recruiting, promoting and transferring judges be reviewed. Ireland was given 18 months to respond to the recommendations.
The time period was extended in April to 30 September.
The Chief Justice said Ireland's report will show no real progress since October 2014.
She said the 20-year delay in establishing a judicial council had created a significant institutional vacuum and was a matter of real concern for the judiciary and the State, adding that it was much needed and the failure to establish it weighed heavily on the relationship between the judiciary and the Executive as well as on the State's reputation internationally.
Ms Justice Denham said the fact that a Judicial Council Bill was now under the heading of "all other legislation" in the Government's programme would appear to be a demotion from its status under previous government legislative programmes.
She said it was a matter of real concern to observe what would appear to be a distinct loss of momentum in delivering this historic institutional reform.
Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has said the Government is prioritising the legislation for publication this Dáil term.
A spokesman for the Tánaiste said: "The bill - the complexities of which should not be underestimated - is at an advanced stage of drafting intensive work has been done on it over the summer months and the bill has progressed very substantially. It is a very substantial undertaking comprising at least 75 sections."
He added: "A huge amount of groundbreaking legislation, both in the criminal and civil law areas, including legislation required by the Troika, has been prepared and enacted in recent years.
"18 out of the 66 bills enacted by the Oireachtas in 2015 and signed into law by the President, including, for example, the two pieces of legislation relating to the marriage equality referendum, were sponsored by the Department of Justice and Equality.