Circuit Court Judge, Brian Curtin, has been returned for trial to face a charge of child pornography possession.
This was the third time that the case came before Tralee District Court, but the first time Judge Curtin appeared in person.
At an earlier sitting, Judge Humphrey Kelleher, presiding, had warned that he would issue a bench warrant for the defendant's arrest if he failed to turn up today. Judge Curtin's solicitor has argued that his client was medically unfit to attend.
Dressed in a navy suit and blue shirt and tie, the Circuit Court judge arrived today with his solicitor, Robert Pearse, 25 minutes before the court sitting started.
His case was one of the first to be called.
Judge Curtin sat alone in the front row of the public gallery clutching an umbrella and a hard-back book.
Judge Humphrey Kelleher returned him for trial to the next sittings of the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee in July, following an application by State solicitor Catherine Irvine.
Judge Curtin's solicitor said he wished to make it clear that his client's attendance was not an acceptance of the validity of any step taken so far in this case by the State.
Judge Kelleher told Mr Pearse he would make no order in relation to publicity in the case.
