A planned meeting between the Chief Justice and Supreme Court judge Séamus Woulfe to discuss a report into the latter’s attendance at the Oireachtas golf dinner has been deferred. A Courts Service spokesman said that Mr Justice Woulfe had on Sunday evening requested a postponement for personal reasons and this was agreed to by Chief Justice Frank Clarke. Under that process, it is understood Judge Woulfe was due to discuss the proposed resolution, which was outlined to him last Friday, with the Chief Justice. The Denham report said Mr Justice Woulfe had not been “sufficiently vigilant” about his position as a newly appointed judge when he accepted the invitation to the dinner, but that a resignation request would be “unjust and disproportionate”. “The resolution process recommended in the review will now commence,” the court said, which was interpreted by senior legal sources last week to mean that Mr Justice Woulfe would face “a dressing-down” by the Chief Justice.

Source: The Irish Times October 05, 2020 09:32 UTC