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The report on Supreme Court Justice Séamus Woulfe’s attendance at the Oireachtas golf dinner has expressed the view that he did not violate any laws and that requesting his resignation would be unfair and disproportionate.
Former Chief Justice Susan Denham is also understood to have concluded that the Chief Justice may deal with the matter informally.
It is believed that she expressed the opinion that Judge Woulfe should have attended the golf event without attending the dinner and should not have accepted the invitation to dinner.
It is understood that she considered that he did not consider before attending the dinner whether his attendance, as a judge of the Supreme Court, at a celebratory dinner in a hotel, in a public place, in the middle of a pandemic, could be a fault of correction. or it could create the appearance of impropriety to reasonable members of the public.
Despite his views on those issues, he also found there were mitigating factors, including that he did not violate any laws or knowingly violate any guidelines on the day of the event.
His inability to reflect on whether his attendance as a Supreme Court justice could cause controversy and discredit the Supreme Court had to be seen in light of factors including that he was a newly appointed judge and had not yet served as a justice of the Supreme Court. Supreme Court. judge, as well as the absence of relevant guidelines or a code of judicial conduct that could have helped you deal with the situation.
Ms. Denham considered that nothing the judge did involved misconduct that could justify requests to resign from office and that such action would be unfair and disproportionate.
The report on the controversy was due to be released Thursday after a meeting of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council.
In August, the court asked Ms. Denham to conduct a review on the Supreme Court Justice’s attendance at the event in Clifden, Co Galway.
Ms. Denham was asked to consider whether Mr. Judge Woulfe should, in all circumstances, have left the hotel in light of the prevailing situation and whether he should have played golf without attending dinner.
Judge Woulfe, a former attorney general, was among more than 80 guests who attended a dinner Aug. 19 after two days of golf. The event at the Co Galway hotel was held despite Covid-19 public health guidelines that place limits on indoor gatherings. Several TDs and senators attended, along with former TDs and senators.
The controversy surrounding the event has led to the resignation of Fianna Fáil TD Dara Calleary as Minister of Agriculture and Phil Hogan as European Commissioner.
Political sources acknowledged that politicians who were forced to resign over the controversy, including but not limited to Calleary and Hogan, could feel badly done given the leniency granted to Judge Woulfe.
Judge Denham’s report is expected to conclude that Judge Woulfe had a reasonable right to rely on the organizers’ assurances that the event would comply with Covid-19 regulations.
While some politicians also made this argument in their defense, the scale of the angry public reaction sparked an outcry for their resignations.
Calleary resigned immediately after revelations following talks with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, while Hogan resigned after several days trying to hold on.
Several senators resigned from their party whips, while Cork Senator Jerry Buttimer, Cork Senator Jerry Buttimer, also resigned.
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