‘Sociable’ AG Woulfe often spotted in Dáil members’ bar... though not a member

AS attorney general, embattled Judge Séamus Woulfe was a surprising presence in the Oireachtas members’ bar.

This is because, despite having been a member of government, he is and was not an Oireachtas member, and therefore not usually entitled to be in the members’ bar – the more exclusive of two bars in Leinster House.

A number of TDs told the Irish Mail on Sunday that Mr Woulfe was often seen in the Dáil members’ bar in Leinster House when he was Attorney General.

Mr Woulfe moved from the Office of Attorney General to the Supreme Court in July.

One TD told the MoS that he was surprised: ‘The bar is supposed to be the inner sanctum. As far as I was aware only TDs, senators and retired TDs were permitted to enter.’

A spokesman for the Houses of the Oireachtas explained the possible presence of the then-Attorney General in the bar: ‘At the discretion of the bar manager, an AG as a member of government could be in the members’ bar. For briefings and that type of thing.’

It is Mr Woulfe’s sociability which led to his attendance at the now infamous Oireachtas Golf Society event in Clifden.

Former chief justice Susan Denham is currently reviewing the circumstances of his attendance in contravention of Covid restrictions – and one of the issues she is to examine is whether or not he should have been at the event regardless of whether it was in breach of government pandemic guidelines.

It seems the legal profession itself is in two minds as to Judge Woulfe’s position – although nobody was prepared to comment on the record either way.

‘I think he’s in trouble,’ said one senior figure, now retired.

‘People I am talking to down the library recognise his position is untenable,’ another said.

But other sources have warned that the Government may have to go to war with the Law Library if it is to secure the resignation of newly appointed Judge Mr Woulfe. In contrast to Phil Hogan, who cut an isolated figure for the last week, sources insisted that Mr Woulfe still commands support amongst judges and senior counsel.

This explains why senior legal figures and judges have created a ring of silence around the embattled Supreme Court judge.

One legal source said: ‘Fine Gael fed their man to the wolves and got very little gratitude. We are not going to expose our man to this.

‘He deserves better than the wolves of a Liveline jury.

‘The playbook in dealing with Séamus is borrowed from Bertie [Ahern]. Delay, take the embarrassing issue out of public circulation via a judge or a tribunal and hope the public has forgotten by the time the report comes in.’

Leave it lie for long enough, they said, and the thing will die.

Defenders of Mr Woulfe, speaking on the principle of strict confidentiality, said: ‘The problem with Séamus is that he hasn’t fully adjusted to being a judge.

‘There is no great plot. The Oireachtas Golf Society is not some form of Masonic lodge.

‘He could have just been wandering around and decided to join the feast.’

Another legal source said: ‘He hasn’t fully transitioned yet. Judges become very isolated. Some are quite odd. There is one who had his own chef. It is actually quite sad. Their social life is so constricted they look terribly forward to wine and cheese nights for book launches.’

Mr Woulfe, they said ‘is not pompous like other judges – he will talk to the Queen or the cat, he is one of the few judges that might know who is running in the 5.15 in Chepstow’.

A longtime resident of Clontarf, he grew up in nearby Sutton and attended Belvedere College before going on to study law.

As a teenager at Belvedere and a university student at Trinity he was a star squash player and represented Ireland in the 1983 International Intervarsities Championships.

The son of a civil servant, Mr Woulfe grew up with a keen interest in how government and society is organised.

He cites an adolescent viewing of the 1948 film The Winslow Boy, as a pivotal moment in his life. The film, in which Robert Donat plays a barrister, describes the tense legal battle of a Navy cadet who must clear his name of an untrue theft allegation in order to claim justice and save his career and future.

Married to fellow barrister Sheena Hickey, he has two children who play for Clontarf GAA club where Mr Woulfe mentors an underage team.

In addition to their family home in Clontarf, Mr Woulfe and his wife are landlords of a nearby duplex apartment overlooking Dublin Bay which is rented.

‘People recognise his position is untenable’