The appointment of former Supreme Court judge Mr Hugh O'Flaherty to the European Investment Bank has been warmly welcomed by the Dublin Circuit Court county registrar who resigned at the same time.
Mr Michael Quinlan, who has returned to private practice as a solicitor, told The Irish Times: "I'm delighted for him. I've written to him saying I'm delighted."
Asked if he had been offered a position in the public service, he said: "Did I get a call from Charlie McCreevy? No, I didn't.
"I've moved along. That was chapter one in the book of life. The minute the Law Society gave me my practising certificate I moved on."
The High Court judge who resigned as a result of the controversy, Mr Cyril Kelly, could not be contacted for his reaction to Mr O'Flaherty's appointment.
Mr Kelly cannot return to work as a barrister because of a Bar Council rule that a former judge cannot appear in any court in which he sat. It is understood rumours that he was seeking to qualify as a solicitor are unfounded.
The resignations of the two judges last April highlighted the lack of any disciplinary procedure for judges. The only option open to the Government, when faced with a critical report of two members of the judiciary, was to consider impeachment, that is, tabling a resolution calling for their removal to both Houses of the Oireachtas. Faced with this prospect, both judges resigned.
By coincidence, the Working Group on a Courts Commission, chaired by Ms Justice Susan Denham, had been considering the question of judicial ethics and discipline, and this featured in its sixth report, released by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform as the controversy was raging.
This recommended the setting up of a special committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice to consider this report and the position in other jurisdictions and to prepare a report advising on a judicial body to handle complaints, among other things. This committee has been set up, and is still consulting various interested parties before preparing its report.
Among the proposals it is considering are those in the Courts Commission report, which suggested that any disciplinary body for judges should be a judicial one, containing judges and retired judges. It should operate in an informal but structured way.
The Working Group on a Courts Commission also suggested that such a body could identify "any areas of concern and isolate conventions of judicial behaviour and conduct which are appropriate in Ireland".
It envisaged this leading to the judges drafting a code of ethics and/or guidelines, which could be published.