The personal computer of Judge Brian Curtin has still not been handed over to the Oireachtas Committee investigating his behaviour, six weeks after the Supreme Court decided it should be made available. Stephen Collins, Political Correspondent, reports.
The committee is due to meet again next Wednesday and there is no sign that the computer - which allegedly contains images of child pornography - will be made available to the committee in the near future. It has been in the possession of the Garda since May 2002.
Judge Curtin pleaded not guilty to the possession of child pornography when his case opened in the Circuit Court on April 20th, 2004. He was acquitted after it emerged the warrant under which the computer had been seized was out of date.
The main reason for the delay in making the computer available is understood to involve a dispute - between the legal teams representing the committee and the judge - over whether the taxpayer should foot the bill for the examination of the computer by two experts.
The two legal teams have discussed arrangements for computer experts, one acting on behalf of the committee and the other for the judge, to examine the computer immediately it is handed over. The committee has appointed US expert Eoghan Casey, while the judge's expert witness is British investigative journalist Duncan Campbell.
Judge Curtin's team argues that the full cost of the examination should be covered by the State, while the committee lawyers have argued for half the cost, as the Supreme Court decision gave the judge half his costs.
The committee is obliged to complete its work before the next general election. If it fails to report before the election (expected in a year's time), the committee will lapse and the judge will remain in office.
Judge Curtin, who acted as a Circuit Court judge for just six months after his appointment in November 2001, has been on full pay (€149,461 a year) since he ceased hearing cases after a Garda raid on his home in 2002.
If the Oireachtas fails to dismiss him by November, he will be entitled to a pension of one-eighth of his salary - €18,682 a year. If he is not removed by the election, he will continue on full salary until retirement.
After the Supreme Court decision in early March, it was widely expected the computer would be handed over to the committee within a week. The lawyers are still discussing the costs issue, but a compromise allowing the full cost of the judge's expert witness and half the legal costs involved in the computer phase of the case is on the verge of being agreed.
The committee will meet on Wednesday but there is no sign of an early resolution of the outstanding issues to allow for the examination of the computer.
Early this month, the committee chairman, Fianna Fáil TD Denis O'Donovan, said he would be "deeply disappointed" if its report was not completed by July.