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 Curtin wins right to halt computer child porn probe 21/12/2004 - 18:15:52 Judge Brian Curtin tonight won the right to halt an Oireachtais committee investigation into the discovery of child pornography on his home computer. Lawyers for the Tralee-based Judge were granted leave to seek a judicial review in the New Year. The Circuit Court judge was acquitted last April on charges of possessing child pornography after the Garda warrant used to search his house was found to be out of date. The Oireachtais Committee, chaired by Fianna Fáil TD Dennis O’Donovan, was set up last summer after the Government passed a motion to remove Judge Curtin for stated misbehaviour. The intention was to present a report to the Dáil, before calling a vote on the judge’s future. But at the High Court, senior council John Rodgers, representing Curtin, said the investigative procedures of the Oireachtais committee were fundamentally flawed. He said there were no legal powers to judge the validity of evidence or to make recommendations. “This committee is precluded from making a finding of fact,” he said. Mr Rodgers said that if the House of the Oireachtais attempted to remove Judge Curtin for stated misbehaviour under Article 34.5 of the Constitution, it would be doing so without any proven facts. “The House of the Oireachtais are making a decision on what may well be disputed evidence, or evidence which is capable of a number of different interpretations,” he said. Mr Rodgers said the only way to provide a fair hearing was for the charges against Judge Curtin to be put forward in one of the Houses of the Oireachtais and then voted on in the other. He said Judge Curtin’s home computer was “unlawfully” taken from him in the 2001 Garda raid and was still in Garda custody. There was no way he could comply with the committee’s order to hand it over. “You can’t direct someone to produce something you don’t have,” he said. He described the amendment act introduced by the Dáil last summer to compel Judge Curtin to appear before it as “unconstitutional”. He said it could result in the Judge incriminating himself while answering questions. “It’s effectively seeking to remove Judge Curtin from office for the same offence of which he was cleared,” he said. Judge Smyth said he was satisfied that Judge Curtin’s lawyers had made a proper case. He granted them leave to apply for a judicial review and placed a stay on the work of the Oireachtais committee investigating Judge Curtin, including the order to hand over the computer. Judge Smyth said it was imperative that the separation of powers in the Irish constitution which ensured the independence of the judiciary is jealously guarded. This was not for the protection of judges but so the public could have confidence in the actions of judges. “A judge personally is entitled no more and no less to the protection of the constitution than any other citizen,” Judge Smyth said. He said he was mindful of the need to expedite the process, given the wishes of the Oireachtais committee, as well as the public nature of the controversy surrounding the case. He ordered both parties to prepare their grounds for the judicial review before January 7 and to appear again in the High Court on January 11. |
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