Curtin not allowed to cheat system, claims Dáil committee
The parliamentary body investigating former judge Brian Curtin tonight denied claims that he was allowed to cheat the system.
Today's resignation by Mr Curtin came just two days after he officially qualified for a pension after completing five years on the Circuit Court bench.
The judge was acquitted on a technicality of child porn charges in 2004 but the Government later set up a committee to investigate his behaviour.
The seven-member body met 34 times since June 2004 but has been delayed for months by legal challenges mounted by Mr Curtin.
Committee chairman Denis O'Donovan tonight said he and his colleagues discharged their duties professionally and fairly but that Mr Curtin's resignation was irreversible and their work was now over.
He told a news conference: "Some commentators said at the beginning that I was like Jesus on the cross, it was such a difficult task.
"But we performed that task very professionally and very fairly. The facts are the judge has resigned and our work has finished."
Hearings were due to begin today on Mr Curtin and witnesses were due to be sworn in when Committee members learned the subject of their inquiry was resigning.
"He has issued an unequivocal letter of resignation that is clear and irrevocable."
Mr O'Donovan called for a watchdog for the state's judges to be established immediately.
"There is now need at this juncture that a judicial council should be established as a matter of urgency. Ireland is the only country in the modern world without one. If a judicial council was in place it would obviate the difficulties we faced in this situation."
The computer on which Mr Curtin was alleged to have accessed the child porn will remain in the Dáil parliament's vaults, it emerged.
Mr O'Donovan said: "I understand that all exhibits will be placed in the custody of the House and these will be treated as historical documents.
"The computer will be kept in the vaults of this House and it will be decided what will become of it."
Mr O'Donovan said that Mr Curtin's legal costs will be paid by the state and will be subject to tax.
"At this stage we don't have a final sum of what those costs are."
He said he understood that Mr Curtin had completed five years as a judge on either last Friday or Saturday.
However, the Cork West constituency TD said the Committee had never discussed the issue of Mr Curtin's pension entitlements and that it was always a matter for the Department of Justice.
He stressed that the remit of the Committee had been unprecedented but a legal 'road map' had now been set out for future parliamentary proceedings on such constitutional issues.
He added: "Our committee has withstood the challenge of a High Court challenge and a Supreme Court appeal."
The body is to submit a brief formal report on its work to the Oireachtas tomorrow.
