District court judges must apply the same standards of proper procedure and strict adherence to constitutional principles as judges of the higher courts.
This is the central message of the report from Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Frank Murphy of his inquiry into two allegations against Judge Donnchadh O Buachalla. These were that there was impropriety in his handling of the licensing of the premises owned by a friend, Catherine Nevin, and in the discharge of his judicial functions involving two gardai.
This latter aspect of the inquiry collapsed when the two gardai withdrew their allegations following an analysis of how their cases had fared in Judge O'Buachalla's court. This analysis showed no bias against them.
The bulk of the report is devoted to a detailed analysis of all the exchanges surrounding the attempt to have the licence for Jack White's Inn transferred into the name of Catherine Nevin following the murder of her husband.
What emerges from this analysis is a great deal of communication between Nevin's solicitor, Mr Donnchadh Lehane, and Judge O Buachalla, coupled with a degree of informality in dealing with the licence transfer that Mr Justice Murphy clearly found unacceptable.
This informality included phone calls from Mr Lehane to the Revenue Commissioners seeking to establish what authorisation they needed for the transfer and led to the issuing of a "letter of authorisation" which the judge had no power to issue.
There was strong disagreement among all involved about the procedure for transferring the licence, which Judge O'Buachalla "was invited to resolve" by issuing the letter. While he erred in doing so, Mr Justice Murphy described this as an error of judgment and not an abuse of legal process.
This was not the only "error of judgment" he displayed. In the light of his friendship with Catherine Nevin he should not have heard the licensing application on her behalf. But, again, this was "an error of judgment and not an act of misconduct".
The other aspect of the process examined by Mr Justice Murphy was the making of the order to transfer the licence in camera.
Judge O Buachalla's counsel, Mr Thomas Morgan BL, had described the failure to hear the application in public as "a minor mistake". Mr Justice Murphy acidly commented: "I would hesitate to describe any failure to comply with the requirements of the Constitution as `minor'."
While, according to the report, "no injustice was done", Mr Justice Murphy has sent a message to all district justices that it is not acceptable to act on the suggestions of solicitors, to deal with matters behind closed doors or to handle cases, other than the most uncontentious, if they involve friends.