Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2021-07-14
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Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West

Last week, I spoke to a woman who was the victim of a blatant and gross abuse of power. She was in court seeking a protection order and was under immense stress. After the court case the Kerry judge, who is now retired and who I will not name, contacted her. He texted her and called her persistently. He told her she was beautiful and that she should not tell anyone else about the contact he was having with her. He pressured her to meet up with him. When she met up with him out of fear it became very clear that he was not interested in anything to do with the case but in pursuing a sexual relationship. She was afraid. She managed to cut off all contact with him but it was a very clear abuse of power. She pursued all the avenues for justice that were open to her. She wrote letters to senior judges, she went to the Garda, and she went to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, but she got no justice. What is being done to ensure that these sorts of abuses of power cannot happen again? Where is someone who perceives that there has been a significant issue of misconduct by a member of the Judiciary meant to go to get that issue resolved?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-07-14