Experts engaged by the Oireachtas committee set up to inquire into the conduct of Judge Brian Curtin will report on the contents of his computer to the committee and his lawyers next week. Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent,
The computer was obtained from the Garda Síochána last May following the judge's failure in the Supreme Court to prevent the committee conducting the inquiry.
The committee is inquiring into how the judge came to be charged with possession of child pornography.
He was acquitted because the warrant under which his computer was seized by gardaí was out of date. It has been in the possession of the Garda Síochána since.
Two experts, one representing the committee and the other the judge, were present at the hand-over and have since been examining the computer to see if it contained images of child pornography, as alleged when Judge Curtin's prosecution began.
The report of the expert for the committee has been provided to the judge's legal team. However, it is understood that the committee has not yet received the report of the committee representing the judge.
The Irish Times has learned that the committee has also obtained the judge's financial records. When the case for the prosecution opened in Kerry over two years ago, counsel for the State said that part of the prosecution case would be financial records. The case collapsed when, after he had heard legal arguments about the warrant from the defence, the judge directed the jury to acquit.
The Irish Times has also learned that two further experts on this type of crime are travelling from the US to give evidence to the committee next week.
The committee will meet briefly at the end of July to consider progress so far. It will then adjourn until the third week of September.
A full week has been set aside then for a hearing, where it is expected that Judge Curtin's legal team will cross-examine all the witnesses, which, as well as the experts who have been called in, will include members of the Garda Síochána.
The chairman of the committee, Denis O'Donovan TD, told The Irish Times that he expects to be able to present the committee's report to the Dáil and Seanad by the beginning of October. This would enable it to be discussed by both Houses of the Oireachtas and any decision taken on the judge's future well before an election.