Madam, - I am very concerned about the aftermath of the mistrial of Judge Curtin. It seems to me that gardaí made an elementary mistake in executing a search warrant and, under the legal system that has served us faithfully, the judge is a free man.
The Garda Siochána and the DPP should be required to answer in public for their failure in this case. Sadly, however, there is no independent investigation process being used to investigate the failure of individual gardaí or the prosecution service.
The Government should also be required to answer for its failure to set up an independent service similar to that in Northern Ireland today. Such a service is as essential in the South as it was in the North and for the same reasons (Abbeylara, Donegal, et.al.). Sadly, however, the Government prefers tribunals.
The Government has rushed through legislation to impeach any judge on evidence that could not be used in a court of law. In so doing it has over-reacted to a particular case and set itself above the law. The public is now expected to believe that a Government which has mishandled electronic voting is now competent to assess whether the images on a hard disk were there as a result of malfeasance or because of a virus.
Give us a break, lads, and stop insulting our intelligence.
The real casualties in all of this are: the rule of law; the Irish Constitution; and the independence of judges. It now appears that a tabloid headline is more important than a judgment handed down in a court of law. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN POWER,
Belmont Road,
Ferrybank,
Waterford.