People Before Profit TDs to move impeachment motion against Seámus Woulfe

RISE TD PAUL Murphy says he will file a motion to remove Supreme Court Justice Seamus Woulfe in the Dáil this week.

Murphy says the motion will be moved together with his colleague in the Solidarity-People Before Profit alliance, Bríd Smith TD.

The possible removal of a judge is possible under article 35.4 of the Constitution for “declared misconduct”, but this would have to be approved by both the Dáil and the Seanad.

Any DT can file an impeachment motion of this type for the above reason.

The motion comes after it was revealed two weeks ago that Chief Justice Frank Clarke had informed Woulfe of his personal opinion that Woulfe should resign from the state’s highest court.

The decision came after the fallout from Woulfe’s attendance at the controversial Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Clifden in August.

A review of Woulfe’s dinner attendance by former Chief Justice Susan Denham found it would be “unfair and disproportionate” for the judge to resign, and he subsequently refused to do so.

Talking to TheJournal.ie Today, Murphy says he makes the motion because it is “a question of responsibility” and because of both Woulfe’s attendance at Clifden’s dinner and his subsequent response.

“I think it is the case that Seamus Woulfe’s actions, both in attending the dinner and his response to criticism of his presence, undermine the public health effort. And he gave the impression that the rules didn’t apply to him, ”Murphy said.

In a transcript of Woulfe’s responses to Denham as part of his review, he had called the media coverage of the Golfgate scandal “appalling” and claimed that the social event was treated as the “Ku Klux Klan.”

Last week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the government would take “no further steps” in the ongoing controversy, stating that a “deliberately high constitutional standard” is required to remove a judge. It means that the government TDs are unlikely to support such a motion.

Murphy said this afternoon that Martin’s sight of the bar to be reached is just an interpretation.

“When you said last week that there is a very high bar, that is not based on anything, it is not written anywhere, that is not a lawyer’s interpretation of what it is. Basically, what is established in the Constitution is that the Oireachtas can remove a judge for ‘declared misconduct’. In other words, misconduct and that will be reflected in our motion, ”he said.

Speaking at RTÉ’s The Week in Politics this afternoon, Sinn Féin TD Pádraig MacLochlainn suggested that his party would not be willing to support the motion.

“In our opinion, there is no reason for impeachment and, in fact, Judge Susan Denham had questioned this matter and found no reason for her to resign,” he said.

Labor TD Ged Nash said his party would discuss the motion, but there is “a sense that this would be a matter for the judiciary.”