McEntee to face Dáil over role in Woulfe Supreme Court nomination

Justice Minister Helen McEntee. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Justice Minister Helen McEntee should face Dáil questions this week about her role in the nomination of Seamus Woulfe to the Supreme Court, the Opposition has said.

However, Government sources have said any Dáil debate on individual judicial nominations "would be inappropriate".

While the likelihood of an impeachment process is receding, there has been fresh criticism of Chief Justice Frank Clarke from the Opposition for compounding an already difficult situation.

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy confirmed Ms McEntee is to face questions in the Dáil and hit out at Judge Clarke’s handling of the Woulfe saga, which has resulted in the unseemly stand-off.

“He's certainly made a bad situation, I think, a lot more difficult,” she said.

She said she wrote to the Ceann Comhairle on Friday seeking legal advice for TDs as to what to do.

“He replied to me later that evening, and said that he would convene a meeting of the Committee on Procedure as a matter of urgency,” she said.

Ms Murphy said she is concerned that an impeachment process is very difficult as this controversy is now in the area of judgement and character and moral authority. 

"And it is more the responsibility of the judiciary to enforce that kind of process themselves. The unfortunate thing is that the judicial conduct committee is not in place and won't be in place for another year to 18 months.”

“So there's no mechanism to do that and that's why this is such a difficult decision because the only available option is the impeachment process. Whether or not Leinster house should be involved, or where the solution will happen is, I think, a very open question,” she said.

Labour leader Alan Kelly said additional correspondence that went between Judge Woulfe and the Chief Justice must be made available if the Oireachtas is to make a considered judgement into seeking to impeach or not.

He also said it is “not credible” that Taoiseach Micheál Martin had no idea about the appointment of a Supreme Court judge until it was announced at Cabinet. “He signs off on the agenda the week before,” he told the Irish Examiner.

In response to queries, a spokesman for Ms McEntee said: “The scheduling of Dáil business is a matter for the business committee.”

Behind the scenes, government sources have stated that Judge Woulfe was recommended as a suitable candidate for the Supreme Court by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, which is chaired by the Chief Justice.

The appropriateness of a Dáil debate on an appointment process which involved the JAAB at a time when the Oireachtas may have to consider other issues around Seamus Woulfe and the Supreme Court would be highly questionable, they said.

Any such debate would inevitably touch on, and potentially prejudice, other potential processes the Oireachtas may have to undertake regarding the Supreme Court, as well as potentially encroach on the functions of the Courts. It is a constitutional requirement that there is some distance between the branches of government.