The Circuit Court Judge, Brian Curtin, has been banned from driving for two years and fined €250 after pleading guilty to drink driving at the District Court in Tralee.
Brian Curtin's solicitor said the judge had been suffering from stress, depression and extreme anxiety at the time, following the collapse of his trial on a charge of possessing child pornography.
Judge Curtin was not in court when his case was called this morning.
His record at courts in Tralee this year now reads one acquittal and one conviction.
Last April, Judge Curtin's trial on a charge of possessing child pornography collapsed after the trial judge ruled that the warrant used to search his home was out of date.
Two weeks later, Judge Curtin was stopped by gardaí as he was driving at Clounalour in Tralee.
He was arrested by Garda Jacqueline Treacy on suspicion of drink driving. A urine sample he gave her was found to have a reading of 293mgs of alcohol per 100mls of urine, almost three times the legal drink driving limit.
Judge Curtin pleaded guilty to the charge. His solicitor, Robert Pierse, apologised on his behalf. In a lengthy address, Mr Pierse painted a picture of the two years of hell which he said Judge Curtin had endured.
He said the judge had been vilified by sections of the press and had been spat at, abused and assaulted in public. He said it was no longer safe for Mr Curtin to walk the streets and he had been forced to leave his home of almost 20 years.
Mr Pierse singled out The Star newspaper which, he said, had published stories about Judge Curtin which were improper, provocative and usually inaccurate.
He said a particularly vicious article was carried in The Star about the judge on the day he was arrested. He said it had greatly upset the judge, that he did not eat all day, and then went to a bar in Tralee that evening and drank not wisely but too well.
The judge was then arrested as he drove home.
Judge Terence Finn said he would take into account that Judge Curtin was the subject of public and newspaper comment at the time, and that this may have impacted upon him.
As well as imposing the driving ban and fine, Judge Finn also ordered the endorsement of Judge Curtin's driving licence.
