The Petitioner has no doubt that the Irish Judiciary consider themselves to be impartial however the Petitioner can give 5 examples over 5 the last 6 decades in each decade of how a member of the judiciary in each of the mentioned decades where the impartiality of the judiciary of that decade could be questioned as the Judges in question went in favour of a “friend in court”
1950’s
Barry White’s father lost a case which Barry White on reading the papers of the court case after qualifying as a lawyer said his father should have won It turned out his father’s own solicitor had been asked to close a land deal while his father was on a family holiday and when Barry White’s father came back from holiday the solicitor had bought the land in question for himself A court case in the Irish jurisdiction was taken against the vendor of the land an English citizen however the judge over case was a friend of the solicitor who bought the land for himself and ruled in favour of the English citizen Barry White’s father was later declared a bankrupt as a result of that land deal case where the judge ruled in favour of the “friend in court”
1970’s
The late Mr Charles Haughey was arrested and charged and taken to court in what was called “The Arms Trails” The person in Mr Charles Haughey’s room when he was arrested was a Senior Counsel and judge Mr Charles Haughey in the subsequent case was found not guilty in a case that always had public question marks over its fairness and impartiality
1980’s
The much published case of the murder of the late Father Molloy the case collapsed in court over a technicality put forward by a well-known defence lawyer of the time A current barrister in a recent television programme said it was standard defence submission and was surprised the judge collapsed the case over it However later on in the programme the barrister commented on a comment put to him by the interviewer that as the result of a break-in in to the DPP office paperwork from that case file was stolen and included in it was a letter written some years later from the judge of the trial Judge Roe admitting he had been conflicted in that trail as he had known both the accused and the murder victim The barrister said the Judge should have just excused himself from the trail and another judge would have heard the case
1990’s
An architect went into a roundabout at high-speed and ploughed into another car on the roundabout and the passenger of the car was killed in the subsequent court case it turned out the High Court judge Mr Justice Kelly had been asked by one of his colleagues Mr Justice Hugh Flaherty to steer the case in a specific direction This request was made as the result of Mr Justice Hugh Flaherty meeting while out walking in Herbert Park a neighbour and sister of architect in the case who asked was there anyway Mr Justice Hugh Flaherty could assist in the matter Both Supreme Court and High Court Judges were to later to retire and resign over the way the High Court case was conducted
2000’s
The Petitioner’s own experience as The President of the High Court at the time Mr Justice Richard Johnson did not instantly dismiss a case which had been brought by the White family who had no evidence or expert witness to substantiate their claim After three months of a charade the case was won by the Petitioner However as The Petitioners barrister said at the time had Barry White’s name not been included as one of the applicants The Judge would in any other circumstances thrown out the White Family application at that point rather than going through the courts before been dismissed which is what happened
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