Taoiseach against elected officials providing character references in sexual offence trials

Mr Martin said the judge made his comments in relation to the Daniel Ramamoorthy case last week, and he was not going to comment any further. File Picture: iStock

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said elected public representative should never provide character references to anybody charged or on trial for sexual offences.

However, he said he did not know the identity of a TD who provided a reference for a former government adviser who was jailed for the sexual exploitation of a 13-year-old boy.

Last week, Judge John Edwards told a court at a hearing for Daniel Ramamoorthy, aged 40, that it was “quite extraordinary” that a TD who provided a character reference failed to mention the child or the crime. The identity of the TD was not disclosed during the court hearing.

Mr Martin said he did not know who the TD was, adding that he did not want to comment in detail as the case was still ongoing.

However, he said he did not think any public representative should be providing character references in sexual offence cases.

“As a general principle, I don't believe public representatives should be giving character references — particularly in cases that involve sexual exploitation or sexual abuse or anything of that nature,” he said.

“I don't believe that's acceptable, and I don't think public representatives should do that.” 

Mr Martin said the judge made his comments in relation to the Ramamoorthy case last week, and he was not going to comment any further.

He said he could not say if the TD was a member of Fianna Fáil as he was not aware of this detail of the case.

“I have no idea who the TD is, no idea at all,” he added.

“There's a court case underway, so I don't want in any way prejudice the outcome of that.”

• Louise Burne is the Political Correspondent with the Irish Examiner.