Opposition leaders have said they will seek independent legal advice and also full documentation on the controversy surrounding Supreme Court judge Séamus Woulfe, following an inconclusive meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Friday.
The leaders of the Opposition parties and groupings met with Mr Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan for two hours in Government Buildings.
As the Irish Times reports, Labour leader Alan Kelly said the outcome of the meeting had been inconclusive and Opposition leaders would need to get their own advice. He said another meeting would be required early next week.
It is understood the Taoiseach gave an undertaking to gather all the relevant documentation surrounding the episode including all the correspondence between Mr Justice Woulfe and Chief Justice Frank Clarke, who told the former attorney general he was of the opinion he should resign from the Supreme Court arising his attendance at a golf dinner in Clifden during the summer, and the manner in which he dealt with it afterwards.
“We have only got partial disclosure and partial documentation from Justice Woulfe and Chief Justice Clarke. We want the full documentation. That request was broadly acceptable to the Taoiseach,” said Mr Kelly.
Cautious approach
He also said that impeachment under Article 35.4 of the Constitution was one of only several options that was raised at the meeting. He said the decision to be taken was not a binary one for the Oireachtas of impeachment or nothing. He added that doing nothing was also an option.
The four Opposition leaders who spoke leaving the meeting were Mr Kelly, Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy, Richard Boyd-Barrett of Solidarity-People Before Profit and Mattie McGrath of the Rural Independents.
There was agreement between all four that the three Government leaders had been very cautious in their approach.
Ms Murphy said it was obvious that the Oireachtas needs its own independent legal advice.
She said she was yet to be convinced that impeachment was an option. “I think you have got to set the bar high in relation to impeachments. I’m still not convinced that the bar is high enough in this particular case,” she said.
She said the leaders “didn’t get a resolution today”.
