Mick Clifford: Why were Waterford reporters refused access to court case of former Fianna Fáil MEP candidate?

Mick Clifford is concerned about a controversy in Waterford where justice had not been seen to be done and a worrying dispute between the gardaí and a judge

The case concerns a relatively minor prosecution being taken against Kieran Hartley (pictured) who is from a prominent Fianna Fáil family and was, at one point, the substitute MEP for Munster for Brian Crowley. File photo: Denis Minihane

There was a time when a judge could clear a court on a whim. This was back in the days of extreme deference to authority. 

There are highly credible anecdotes of occasions when a district court judge cleared a court at the end of the day’s proceedings and heard what he – there were few, if any, female judges in those days – deigned to be a sensitive case.