Impeachment move against judge unlikely before election

IMPEACHMENT proceedings against Judge Brian Curtin are unlikely to begin before next year’s General Election because of the protracted legal challenge to the Oireachtas procedures.

The Supreme Court will deliver its judgment in March on the appeal against a High Court ruling that the process put in place by the Dáil and Seanad was valid.

The impeachment motion was tabled in May 2004, two months after the judge was acquitted of knowingly having child pornography. The prosecution collapsed because the warrant to search the judge’s house was out of date. However, the judge has challenged the powers of the Oireachtas committee to investigate his alleged misbehaviour.