LIKEABLE FORMER AG WHO ADVISED ON COVID LAW RESTRICTIONS
AS ATTORNEY General, Séamus Woulfe played a key role in drafting public health rules introduced by the last government to stem the spread of coronavirus, later noting that the controversy about those rules went off ‘like a bomb’ when he attended the Oireachtas Golf Society gala.
It is also surprising that he got embroiled in Golfgate as he is known as a cautious person – when the Government tried to introduce a law forcing motorists to keep two metres from cyclists, Attorney General Woulfe gave a legal opinion about its constitutionality and questioned its enforceability, effectively ending any chance of it passing.
Justice Woulfe was called to the Bar of Ireland in 1987 and, as a junior counsel, he acted in the Beef Tribunal for Pat Rabbitte, and then took the Government to the European Court of Human Rights due to a long delay in his professional fees being paid by the State.
Along with Mary Robinson, he represented defendants, including subsequent Labour Seanad leader Ivana Bacik, Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union and the University College Dublin Students’ Union in actions taken by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children in the High Court, the Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice.
He was made a senior counsel i n 2005, and was appointed Attorney General in 2017, at the formation of the Fine Gael-led government.
Justice Susan Denham noted yesterday that his office ‘advised on legislation restricting activity during the Covid-19 pandemic’.
While he was attorney general, there was some discussion that he should seek a place in the Supreme Court. It seems that he was not as enthusiastic about the idea as the government.
A committed Fine Gael activist, he had served Leo Varadkar’s government for three years, before being replaced by the Fianna Fáil-leaning Paul Gallagher SC, who has taken the position for the second time. Mr Woulfe returned to barrister work and in July, he was nominated by the Government to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court after the retirement of Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan. On July 23, he was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Higgins. He has not yet sat on the court or taken part in any applications before it.
Within the Four Courts, sources said there was a lot of sympathy for the plight of the popular lawyer, a keen sports fan who is married with two children and lives in Clontarf, Dublin.
‘There’s a general feeling that
READ PHILIP NOLAN ON GOLFGATE
he has got himself into a whole load of trouble he didn’t need,’ said one highly placed individual before the Denham report was issued.
‘Around the corridors, there would be a lot of sympathy. He is a lovely man, who people have a lot of fondness for, because of his personality and character. He is an absolute gentleman, who would always help someone out.
‘I’m not hearing calls for his resignation in here. The general public might be calling for him to fall on his sword, but a lot of them have broken the rules too.’
He added: ‘I’m sure he got it in the ear from [Chief Justice] Frank Clarke, I wouldn’t have any doubt about it, especially with him only being in the door.’
However, one senior counsel said he was deeply uncomfortable about his colleague’s decision to attend the event.
‘The number one rule of being a judge is that you have to be above reproach,’ one said. ‘He is a very popular man, but it is going to be difficult for him now to put this behind him.’
After the controversy erupted, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that he did not believe Judge Woulfe should have been at the Clifden event.
But he said that due to the separation of powers, the Government was unable to examine Judge Woulfe’s behaviour.
‘He is a very popular man’