A state solicitor was temporarily out of the courtroom when Judge Cyril Kelly called the Philip Sheedy case out of turn last November 12th, the Chief State Solicitor's report on the affair has said.
Ms Eileen Creedon, senior assistant solicitor in the Chief State Solicitor's Office, was in court on the day, but had probably been called out for a phone call when Judge Kelly took the case at Number 9 in the list rather than as listed at Number 19. It was not unusual for staff to leave court to make or receive calls, the report says. It adds: "There is nothing on the [court] transcript to indicate why the case was taken out of turn."
The Chief State Solicitor, Mr Michael Buckley, says his office received only a day's notice that the case was listed, and staff assumed the listing was an error.
Noting that "human error can occur in any organisation", Mr Buckley admits that a legal clerk from his office was present throughout the short hearing, but did not report the matter to Ms Creedon.
He adds that "given the extraordinary manner in which the case was dealt with, both in the manner in which it was listed and the way in which it was heard without inviting one side to make an application and the other side to reply . . . I am not convinced that it is necessary to make fundamental changes".
"Throughout these proceedings, my role was to act as solicitor to the Director of Public Prosecutions from whom I obtained my instructions . . . "
However, he adds that he has begun discussions with the DPP about how reporting procedures might be improved. His conclusions also recommend a review of the procedures for court listing and notification, which he criticises for "a lack of clarity".
The report says it is "not unknown" for a case to appear on the list in error.
Meanwhile, the three men who resigned over the affair have been invited to appear before an Oireachtas committee on May 6th to explain the actions they took.
The letters were delivered by taxi yesterday afternoon to the homes of the former judges, Mr Hugh O'Flaherty and Mr Cyril Kelly, and the former Dublin county registrar, Mr Michael Quinlan, asking them to appear voluntarily before the Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights.
