Curtin has two weeks to answer internet child porn allegations

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday said the Government may well proceed with a move to impeach Judge Brian Curtin later this month.

Mr Ahern told the Dáil that solicitors acting for the judge had responded last Friday to the Government's letter asking Judge Curtin to explain how his credit card had been used to purchase child pornography from a US website.

He added that the Government had agreed to give the judge two weeks to reply to the letter.

Asked yesterday by Labour leader Pat Rabbitte if the Government had considered going ahead with impeachment proceedings, Mr Ahern said it could be that the Oireachtas would need to consider changes in procedures or legislation to facilitate any such move.

"My advice at this stage is that it does not cause a constitutional difficulty, because the problem is how to make the mechanism work," he said.

He added that the Constitution already gave the Oireachtas the right to remove a member of the judiciary by impeachment.

In 2001, the Government attempted to introduce a constitutional amendment that would allow the introduction of procedures in the Dáil and Seanad for impeachment motions.

It followed the resignation of two senior judges amid allegations of judicial interference in the Philip Sheedy case.

The Government has also received the reports on the Curtin case from the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Garda Commissioner. Both of these were requested by the Cabinet after its meeting last week.

A spokesperson for the Government said last night that it would not decide if or when it would publish the reports until after it first considered Judge Curtin's full response. A deadline of May 18 has been imposed for the receipt of this response.

Judge Curtin was acquitted of knowingly possessing child pornography in Tralee Circuit Court after trial judge Carroll Moran ruled that a search warrant used by gardaí was out of date.

Judge Curtin's legal team contacted the Government last Friday asking for more time in which to respond to the issues that had been raised in the Cabinet letter.

Mr Ahern has already said that the issue of monetary compensation would not arise if Judge Curtin resigned.