Judge Brian Curtin, who lost his Supreme Court bid to stop an Oireachtas committee investigating his alleged misbehaviour, has been awarded half the costs of the High Court action and the appeal.
The case was estimated to have cost €2 million and Judge Curtin's own costs would run to over €500,000.
Giving the Supreme Court's decision on costs today, the Chief Justice, John Murray, said the case had raised fundamental issues.
Judge Curtin tried and failed to stop an Oireachtas inquiry into his alleged misbehaviour in relation to accessing child pornographic websites.
But the legal proceedings he initiated have resulted for the first time in clarity about how the Houses of the Oireachtas must proceed in any attempt to remove a judge from office.
The Supreme Court has now clarified for the future the constitutional norms in a core area between the three organs of State.
Chief Justice Murray said that in seeking to remove Judge Curtin from office, both Houses of the Oireachtas and Judge Curtin were required to address novel but crucial constitutional questions in an uncharted constitutional terrain.
It was the courts which were asked to resolve them.
By interpreting and defining the meaning and ambit of Article 35 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court said it had provided certainty and a guide for the Oireachtas as to the procedures to be followed in the future.
In these circumstances, the court exercised its discretion to award Judge Curtin half the costs of the High Court action and Supreme Court appeal against the Attorney General.
