GolfGate: Séamus Woulfe 'should resign', says Irish chief justice

Supreme Court judge Séamus Woulfe has been told his attendance at the golf event had caused "significant and irreparable" damage

An Irish Supreme Court judge should resign over his attendance at a golf event a day after Covid-19 restrictions were tightened, the country's chief justice has said.

But the judge, Séamus Woulfe, is refusing to do so.

The affair, known as GolfGate, has already resulted in the resignations of then-agriculture minister Dara Calleary and the ex-EU Commissioner Phil Hogan.

They attended a golf society event in County Galway in August.

But the event came just one day after Irish authorities tightened Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings.

Chief Justice Frank Clarke has told Mr Justice Woulfe in a letter that it was the "unanimous view" of the other judges in the court, including ex officio members, that his handling of the controversy had caused "significant and irreparable" damage to the institution.

An earlier report by the former chief justice Susan Denham into the affair found that he should not have attended the event in the middle of a pandemic but said calls for him to resign were unjust and disproportionate.

• GolfGate: The hotel event causing chaos in Ireland

• EU's Hogan resigns over 'Covid breach'

• Irish agriculture minister quits over golf dinner

After her report was published, a transcript of her interview with the judge was also made public in which he criticised the media's "fake" and "overblown" coverage of the affair, and said he was on holidays at the time and unaware of the government's change to the guidelines.

That prompted other judges to go to the chief justice to express their opposition to Mr Justice Woulfe, a former attorney general who had only recently been appointed to the Irish Supreme Court.

In refusing to resign, Mr Justice Woulfe cited the Denham report but said he was prepared to donate three months of his salary to a charity and to not sit on the court until February.

Irish Chief Justice Frank Clarke has said Mr Justice Woulfe should resign

He also said he was prepared to sit as a High Court judge in the meantime to help out.

Until now politicians have been very reluctant to get involved in the controversy because of the independence of the judiciary.

Because of that independence, the only way a judge can be removed is by an impeachment vote in the Dáil (lower house of the Irish parliament) and the Seanad (upper house) for "stated misbehaviour or incapacity".

No judge in the state's history has been impeached.

But opposition parties are privately talking about the possibility of such a vote after the government confirmed the attorney general is to advise the cabinet on the affair.

In a statement, the Irish government has said it is "acutely aware of the sensitivity and seriousness of he issues" and that it will continue to reflect to reflect on them.

If Mr Justice Woulfe remains defiant, TDs (Irish MPs) and senators will have to decide whether his handling of his attendance at a golf dinner constitutes "stated misbehaviour" warranting his impeachment.

And many will see that as evidence of the strange Covid-19 times we are living in.