[ad_1]
The Chief Justice has given his personal opinion that Seamus Woulfe should resign.
Mr. Woulfe met with Chief Justice Frank Clarke last week at the Four Courts to discuss the aftermath of the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner that took place in August.
Despite having no legal grounds to compel Woulfe to do so, letters between the two men show that Clarke felt that withdrawing from the Supreme Court was the appropriate course of action after Woulfe’s attendance at the controversial Golfgate event, while Woulfe disagrees.
“It is not part of my role to ask, much less tell, to resign,” wrote the Chief Justice.
“The resignation is and can only be for the judge himself. Unfortunately, however, I believe that I must make clear my personal opinion that, to prevent further serious damage to the judiciary, he must resign.”
“A judge should not attend any event that is organized in contravention of the law or where there may be a reasonable public perception that this is so,” Judge Clarke continues.
“Doing so discredits the law and, therefore, constitutes a serious violation of judicial ethics.
“Failure to comply with these principles by a judge can seriously damage the public’s trust and respect in the judiciary. That has happened in this case.
“In my opinion, the way you have approached this problem has contributed very substantially to the damage caused to the Court.
“That account seemed to show that you did not appreciate the genuine public concern about the event and your attendance, but continued to reduce the controversy to a media frenzy.”
Mr. Woulfe’s letter in response to Mr. Clarke shows that he does not agree with the Chief Justice’s assessment, and both men have agreed that Mr. Woulfe will not sit on the Supreme Court for three months.
He will donate his salary for that period to charity as an atonement for his bad judgment in August, and will not be included as a judge until February 2021.
Woulfe’s letter to the Chief Justice details that he never proposed to resign and outlines in detail all the reasons why he does not believe the correspondence between the two men should be published. It also describes the reasons for your difference of opinion with the superior judge.
“I do not consider it appropriate in any way that I should resign,” he wrote.
“The fact is, as accepted by Judge Denham, I was unaware that the cabinet had made such an announcement the night before and was completely unaware of any ‘rule of six’ proposals when I attended dinner.
“I don’t think it’s fair to criticize me saying that I didn’t follow such guidelines in circumstances where I was simply not aware.
“It was simply a matter of fact. I attended a dinner in a room with 45 people, not 80 people.
“However, I would ask you to consider that my meeting with Judge Denham was the first time in more than four weeks after dinner, during which time I was subjected to intense criticism about what I believed to be a flawed premise, that I had the opportunity to explain myself to anyone. I was under the most intense pressure, personally, physically and emotionally, and the transcript, like all transcripts, does not adequately communicate those feelings. “
Previous meetings with the Chief Justice had been repeatedly postponed or canceled four times at the request of Mr. Woulfe for personal or medical reasons, despite the Chief Justice making it clear that he was eager to resolve the matter. Legal sources said the longer Woulfe postpones the matter, the less likely it is that he will be able to join the Supreme Court court.
Mr. Woulfe had been appointed to the Supreme Court in July this year, however, due to the controversy, he has yet to hear any cases.
In a statement, Chief Justice Clarke expressed “his very serious concern” about the damage caused by the continued delays in the process to address the Golfgate controversy.
The event, which violated public health regulations, caused much public outrage and several guests resigned from their public positions, including then-Agriculture Minister Dara Calleary, then-EU Commissioner Phil Hogan and then-Seanad Leas-Cathaoirleach Jerry Buttimer.
Woulfe’s attendance at the event has been mired in controversy after former Supreme Court Justice Denham reviewed the incident.
Ms. Denham concluded that it was inappropriate for Mr. Woulfe to resign. However, the publication of his interview with the newly appointed judge questioned his suitability for the role.
This was repeated by Judge Clarke who said: “The reasonable response of a large number of people to the transcripts, in my judgment, has caused even greater damage to the judiciary than their attendance at the Clifden event.”
Despite making a public apology after the event, transcripts of his conversation with Judge Denham undermined that apology, as he admitted that he apologized because others had done so and he was not sure why he was apologizing.
“I spoke to one or two people and decided that I would make an apology because one or two other people had apologized for any inadvertent breaches of the guidelines on my part,” he said.
“Now, I was a little hesitant about doing it because I wasn’t sure why I was apologizing … And I think what’s very interesting is – and I only realized this yesterday when I went back to the apology – the fact that I said ‘I apologize for any inadvertent failure to comply with any of the new guidelines on my part,’ “he told Judge Denham.
Judge Woulfe told Judge Denham that the Oireachtas Golf Society’s treatment was appalling and stated that it “presented itself as the Ku Klux Klan.”
In response to these comments, Judge Clarke said: “Public opinion was being shaped by reasonable people and not by a media frenzy.”
The comments ultimately led to Mr. Woulfe being visited in the Four Courts by various judges to explain how his conduct had been perceived.
Commenting, a government spokesman said: “The Attorney General has been asked to advise the Taoiseach and the Government on the matter.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”
The Oireachta must now decide whether it will try to remove Judge Séamus Woulfe.
To remove Mr Woulfe, the Dáil and the Seanad would have to pass resolutions citing “misconduct”.
[ad_2]