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A planned meeting between the Chief Justice and Supreme Court Justice Séamus Woulfe to discuss a report on the latter’s attendance at the Oireachtas golf dinner has been postponed.
A spokesman for the Courts Service said that Judge Woulfe had requested a postponement on Sunday night for personal reasons and this was agreed to by Chief Justice Frank Clarke.
The meeting was scheduled under an “informal resolution” process stemming from former Supreme Court Chief Justice Sunan Denham’s report on Mr. Justice Woulfe’s attendance at the controversial August gathering of some 80 people, which took place despite of public health councils on large meetings during Covid-19. pandemic.
According to that process, it is understood that Judge Woulfe had to discuss the proposed resolution, which was presented to him last Friday, with the president of the Supreme Court. Your meeting will now take place at a later date.
The Denham report said that Judge Woulfe had not been “sufficiently attentive” to his position as a newly appointed judge when he accepted the invitation to the dinner, but that a request to resign would be “unfair and disproportionate.”
The findings of the former Chief Justice stood in contrast to the political trials faced by former European Commissioner Phil Hogan and former Agriculture Minister Dara Calleary, who had to resign down the line.
However, Justice Woulfe, who previously served as attorney general and was appointed to the superior court in July, is not currently listed to hear any Supreme Court cases in the Legal Journal.
Under existing rules, the Chief Justice has no power to impose a penalty of any kind, but important figures have been very upset to see the Supreme Court involved in a public controversy.
“The resolution process recommended in the review will begin now,” said the court, which was interpreted by high-level legal sources last week to mean that Judge Woulfe would face “a reprimand” from the Chief Justice.
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