High Court judge ‘broke judicial protocol’ with letter to newspaper

Mr Justice Max Barrett wrote to The Irish Times in May to express his regret that Dublin’s Moore Street has become “almost a byword for urban neglect”.

The judge had previously ruled in 2015 that parts of Moore Street constituted national monuments for the purposes of the National Monuments Act 1930, but his decision was overturned by Mr Justice Gerard Hogan in the Court of Appeal in 2018.

Letters released to The Sunday Times under FOI legislation reveal that Niall Ó Donnchú, assistant secretary-general in the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, wrote to the Courts Service about the judge’s letter to The Irish Times and received a response from Mr Justice Kelly.

The then-president of the court said: “Even before receiving your email I had determined to write to Mr Justice Barrett concerning what I considered to be a serious breach of judicial protocol on his part, in writing such a letter.

“I wrote to the judge on Friday last in strong terms, leaving him in no doubt that the writing of the letter in question was completely unacceptable and inconsistent with the obligations of judicial office.

“The judge responded very quickly and apologised. I think you may take it that there will be no repetition of such conduct by him in the future.”