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This is a really poor take. 1. It ignores the fact that this issue was tossed to the judiciary by the Taoiseach saying he wished the judges to sort it out. The judiciary did not ask to do this, nor is it in their bailiwick. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/stephen-collins-supreme-court-the-architect-of-its-own-misfortune-1.4407602?mode=amp
2. It suggests a judicial council procedure could have removed Woulfe without involving the Oireachtas, which is wrong: political involvement can’t be cut out of a removal process. It also blames judges for the 20 year political inaction on a Judicial Council, which is bizarre.
3. It ignores that it is and always has been the constitutional responsibility of the Oireachtas to remove judges as the only political check on the judicial power. Far from being a problem, it’s an essential check and balance.
4. The Poland/Trump slippery slope argument is misplaced. It’s not remotely comparable, and if we ever get a point of a PIS-style attack on the judiciary that the public supports, a precedent like this, or it’s absence, won’t matter a damn.
5. It ignores - as so much of the commentary has ignored - the difference between the findings of the Denham report about the dinner and the temperament/judgement issues raised by Clarke CJ about Judge Woulfe’s comments&failure to take full responsibility for mistakes of judgment
I’m not advocating impeachment, to be clear, but I am advocating clear-eyed consideration of this in light of what the Chief Justice said in his letters and without regard to hyperbolic slippery slope arguments.
