‘He Obviously Felt He Could Have Done Anything He Wanted to’

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From top: Retired Kerry District Court Judge James O’Connor; Paul Murphy TD

This afternoon.

Dail Eireann, Leinster House.

Paul Murphy TD asked Taoiseach Micheál Martin:

“On the 14th of July, I raised with you the gross abuse of power by retired Kerry judge James O’Connor.

“I explained how he had abused his position to persistently and completely inappropriately pursue a woman – a vulnerable woman – who was before his court on a family law matter for a sexual relationship.

“Over the summer I was contacted by another woman who told me a very similar story relating to the same judge.

“She was again before him on a family law matter. He approached her repeatedly, he got her number, and then he persistently pursued her.

“There were multiple incidents. I won’t go through all of them. I’ll just quote one incident she told me about.

“She said: ‘He rang me another day and said he had stuff for my case. He told me to meet him at the back door of the courthouse. I went to the back door. He was waiting. He said he didn’t have the paperwork with him. He brought me in there to get the paperwork. Then he lunged at me. I pushed him and left. He obviously felt he could have done anything he wanted to’.”

“There is clearly a repeated pattern of abusive behaviour by James O’Connor, the question is what is the Government going to do to stop this sort of thing happening again.”

Micheál Martin replied that he will consult with others on “how we deal with this”.

Taoiseach says allegations against former judge are ‘very serious’ (RTÉ)

Previously: A Menace In The District Court (Village, June 2021)

Top pic: Valerie O’Sullivan/ Killarney Today

Meanwhile…

Um.

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17 thoughts on “‘He Obviously Felt He Could Have Done Anything He Wanted to’”

  1. just millie

    Broadsheet, why am I in moderation?

    I haven’t used any makey-uppy swear words in ages. But if you want me to start dropping ditherhoohahs and winkytrollops all over the place, I’m always happy to oblige.

    BS SEZ: Millie, you’re not in moderation and never were.

  4. paul

    hopefully Martin can get the finger out and then afterwards maybe we can we treat this as a jumping off point to sort out a few more jokers in the judiciary?

  5. DaithiG

    What is it with judges in the south?
    Wasn’t there a judge in West Cork fiddling with a 16 year old a few years back.

  8. Fearganainm

    There’s many a Kerry one walking about with no criminal convictions thanks to O’Connor’s ‘judicious’ use of the poor box and Michael and Danny Healy-Rae had warm words for him when he failed to get an extension to his time as a judge. Allegations about his (alleged) unhealthy, predatory approaches towards several females with whom he came into contact would not be unknown to gardaí or within certain legal circles but as O’Connor was allegedly wont to urge his prey to say nothing so that his wife wouldn’t find out about his extrajudicial pursuits perhaps there was something of a local omerta that worked to his benefit.

  9. GiggidyGoo

    There’s quite a disease in the Dept. of the Taoiseach – is it the same people in there as when Varadkar was Taoiseach? All forgetting, time after time, to pass messages on to the Taoiseach?
    Or were the messages passed on, and ignored by the relevant Taoiseach of the day?
    Whichever it is, the relevant party that either didn’t pass on for info, or the party that didn’t act upon it is in an untenable position.

  11. Paulus

    We regularly look back and marvel at how deferential we were to the church:
    In the future, will we look back in amazement at how deferential we were to the judiciary?

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