Cabinet to take first steps in impeaching judge today

The Cabinet is expected to decide today to initiate unprecedented impeachment proceedings against Judge Brian Curtin following…

The Cabinet is expected to decide today to initiate unprecedented impeachment proceedings against Judge Brian Curtin following a letter from the judge rejecting the Government's right to inquire into his behaviour.Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, and Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent report

The Irish Times has learned that a brief letter on behalf of the judge, delivered to the secretary general of the Government last Thursday, has in effect challenged the Government to impeach him. It also said that the judge had been recently hospitalised.

The Taoiseach and other senior Government figures were involved in further legal consultations last night in an effort to finalise the Government's course of action. It is understood Ministers have identified possible action which they believe would allow impeachment proceedings to succeed in a relatively short time, and which they believe would survive any subsequent court challenge.

The Taoiseach yesterday again ruled out paying any compensation to the judge for loss of office beyond the modest pension entitlements he has accrued. "I don't think we can come up with any sweetheart arrangement," Mr Ahern told a press conference yesterday.

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The judge's letter, in response to a request from the Government that he explain being charged with possessing child pornography, says that the Government is not the appropriate body to inquire into his behaviour.

Under the Constitution the Oireachtas is charged with responsibility for proceeding against any member of the judiciary.

The letter also made reference to the fact that the judge has been recently hospitalised - for the second time since he was charged with the child pornography offence.

The latest hospitalisation follows him being arrested in Tralee over a week ago on suspicion of drink-driving.

He was hospitalised for a stress-related illness during one of the many adjournments of his case in Tralee District Court.

The Government is now considering having impeachment hearings, to determine if the judge has engaged in "stated misbehaviour", heard by an Oireachtas committee.

If this option is chosen, the committee would report to the Oireachtas once its hearings had been completed, and the Oireachtas would then vote on a motion to remove the judge from the bench.

The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, has pointed out that he could also be removed from the bench if "incapacity" could be proven, thus removing the need to prove misbehaviour.

The Taoiseach is expected to tell the Dáil today how the Government plans to proceed.

If the Cabinet decides this morning to go ahead with impeachment proceedings, Mr Ahern will then outline to the Dáil the procedures he believes the Oireachtas should adopt in the first ever attempt by the legislature to remove a judge from office.

Some Ministers have privately expressed nervousness about such a course for fear that it could be overturned if challenged in the courts.

This would lead to an unprecedented conflict between decisions of the Oireachtas and the judiciary.

The Minister for Justice, speaking in Limerick, said impeachment was a clear and simple procedure as set out in the Constitution.

"In any individual case justice and fair procedure requires a bit of thought, but I don't think that we are afraid of some legal minefield. This is a power vested by the people through the Constitution in the members of the Oireachtas, and I think they will be well capable of putting in place all the necessary procedures to see that, if they exercise that power, then it's done in a fair and constitutional manner.

"One of the fundamental cornerstones of the Constitution is that the people have absolute confidence that those who exercise the judicial power of the Irish State should be of unimpeachable integrity, and should be in no way damaging to the judicial process," said Mr McDowell.