Committee to resume Curtin hearings

THE all-party committee set up to gather evidence for Judge Brian Curtin’s impeachment hearing will resume its hearings at the end of this month.

The Oireachtas committee will meet on April 26 to hear submissions from the judge’s lawyers on his legal costs during the impeachment process, which could result in his being removed from his position.

The Supreme Court last week awarded Judge Curtin half of the costs of the High Court and Supreme Court challenges he took contesting the procedures adopted by the Oireachtas to remove him from office.

According to the court, he was entitled to these costs because he had raised “novel but crucial constitutional questions”.

Now, his lawyers are expected to argue that his legal costs during the resumed Oireachtas process should also be borne by the State.

The question of his costs in the joint Dáil and Seanad process also enters uncharted constitutional territory.

In addition, the committee will also have to decide on the issue of the expenses of any expert witnesses called by the judge on his behalf, including the British investigative journalist, Duncan Campbell.

Yesterday, chairman Denis O’Donovan said that his hope was that the committee would be in a position to provide its report to the Oireachtas by the end of July, paving the way for the impeachment motion to be debated in early autumn. Some other issues involving process, including the possibility of the judge addressing a combined assembly of the Dáil and Seanad, also need to be teased out.

The committee has been in detailed correspondence with Judge Curtin’s lawyers over the handing over of his personal computer, which is in the possession of the gardaí.