Gardaí were aware some months before Judge Brian Curtin's appointment in 2001 as a Circuit Court judge of the "matters now being investigated" by a joint Oireachtas committee set up to investigate the judge's alleged misbehaviour, the Supreme Court heard.
Gardaí were aware of these matters in August 2001, and Judge Curtin was not appointed to the Circuit Court until November 2001, John Rogers SC, for Judge Curtin, said.
However, nothing was done "in the context of a judicial appointment" in 2001, and the State could not now complain about delays in the committee's investigation.
Judge Curtin, he added, was acquitted last year on a charge of possessing child pornography and he stood over that acquittal.
Mr Rogers made the claims when successfully seeking an extension of a stay on the investigation by a joint Oireachtas committee pending the outcome of an appeal to the Supreme Court against the High Court's rejection of his challenge to the mechanism adopted for that investigation.
Donal O'Donnell SC, for the State, said it was not correct to say the State had known about matters since 2001, and it was neither correct nor fair to say nothing was done by the State. He said the judge was appointed in 2001 and proceedings brought against him later.
Since then, Judge Curtin had initiated several sets of legal proceedings, and adjournments had been occasioned by him.
The Supreme Court heard that the joint committee was established in July 2004 and had worked for six months until Judge Curtin initiated his legal proceedings. The investigation had been at a standstill since.
Yesterday's application by Mr Rogers for a continuing stay was resisted by Ms Úna Ní Ráifeartaigh, for the joint committee.
While Mr O'Donnell said he was neutral on the issue of a stay, his side was anxious the appeal be heard quickly.
Given that important constitutional issues were involved in the proceedings, Ms Justice Catherine McGuinnes, presiding over the three-judge court, said the court would grant the stay pending the outcome of the appeal.
The court agreed the matter was urgent and the appeal should be heard as quickly as possible, she said. The court would raise with the Chief Justice the issue of an early date for the appeal.
Having heard that books of appeal had been lodged, the court directed all parties to file written legal submissions within four weeks and returned the matter for mention to July 1st.
