The conclusions drawn by the report of the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Hamilton, on the Sheedy case are stark, the Taoiseach said last night. He added, however, that it would not be fair to comment at this stage on whether the position of either judge is now untenable.
Mr Ahern admitted he was surprised at the content of the report, and said the Government viewed it as "a very serious matter".
When asked if he believed either of the judges should resign, he said: "Let us not get into a situation that before 99.99 per cent of the people see the report, never mind read it, people start drawing conclusions.
"I think natural justice determines that people read the report, study the report and in the cool light of day deal with the serious decisions. People should not be jumping to the bottom line of anything before they read it," Mr Ahern said.
He said the Government was "communicating with the two individuals concerned" and it would then "have to see how matters move out over the next few days". Mr Ahern said people had to be given a chance to read the report, as it was "fairly lengthy and wordy".
"I think the implications are fairly well spelled out in the report, and we now have to see where we go from here," he added.
While Mr Ahern said the Chief Justice's conclusions were "stark", he refused to be drawn on what action the Government would take other than that the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, would address the Dail on Tuesday on the matter.
He said the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights would refer the report to the Dail and the Seanad.
The Cabinet had made contact with the two judges and would discuss the report further when everybody had read it. He said he had not fully read it himself even though he had received it on Thursday.