Mr Justice Seamus Woulfe told the review into his attendance at an Oireachtas Golf Society event that he raised the outing with Chief Justice Frank Clarke at the end of July.
He said he was told the Chief Justice did not see any problem with it, but at that stage he was not aware there would be a dinner.
Mr Justice Woulfe also said he was at no time aware that there were more diners involved in the event, in a room adjoining the one he was eating in.
He said he was absolutely dumbfounded when he heard Minister Dara Calleary had resigned on account of attending the dinner.
Mr Justice Woulfe submitted that the law reducing indoor gatherings from 50 to six had not yet come into effect when the dinner took place on 19 August.
A report by an engineer acting on his behalf found the two dining areas separated by a partition were "separate defined spaces" and conformed substantially to the regulations in place at the time.
Former chief justice Susan Denham found it was not unreasonable for him to consider the dinner was Covid-19 compliant.
The report states that Mr Justice Woulfe met Mr Justice Clarke in the yard of the Four Courts on 29 July and told him he wanted to check something with him because he was new.
Mr Justice Woulfe told Mr Justice Carke that he had been invited to the outing and that it was a non-political event.
He said the Chief Justice replied with something like "I don't see any problem with that". Although Mr Justice Woulfe pointed out that he did not raise any issue about whether there would be a dinner or not as he did not know of these arrangements.
Mr Justice Woulfe said he was not familiar with internal judicial protocols after being appointed as a judge.
He also said he did not receive a formal written invitation to the outing and nobody mentioned the dinner to him in any conversations he had.
Read more: Woulfe 'did not break any law' at golf event - Denham
The judge told Ms Justice Denham he was on holidays with his family in Donegal on Tuesday 18 August and arrived in Clifden at around 6pm.
He was invited to dinner by the former leas Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Paul Coghlan in another hotel in Clifden.
He said he was not aware of new rules announced by the Government that night in relation to public dining as he was on holidays and had "switched off from news coverage".
Mr Justice Woulfe said he first became aware there would be a dinner on the morning of 19 August. He said he did not consider phoning the Chief Justice or any member of the Supreme Court in relation to this.
He said his assumption was that the Chief Justice would have known there was some kind of social element to the golf and did not consider he needed to check details with him. He said this would have been ridiculous.
He said he believed there was nothing inherently dangerous about the fact that there was going to be a dinner and gatherings of 50 people were allowed under the regulations he had been involved in as Attorney General.
Mr Justice Woulfe said when he had originally contacted the Chief Justice in July, his concern had been that it would be considered a separation of powers issue. So when he heard about the dinner, he was not concerned about this issue.
The judge said he was assured strongly by Paul Coghlan, that Senator Donie Cassidy and the organising committee had consulted extensively with the authorities and had ensured everything would be in compliance with the rules and the public health guidelines.
And he considered he had no reason to doubt this. It was also mentioned that the dinner had been moved from the golf clubhouse to the hotel and Mr Justice Woulfe said he received express assurance that the event would be compliant.
The report also states that Mr Justice Woulfe did not see the table plan for the event and had no reason to believe that there were other diners involved in the event other than those he could see in the room he was in.
He said there appeared to be around 45 people in the room he was in. He said he was not conscious of another room of diners in the hotel and was at no time aware that there was a second group of diners from the Oireachtas Golf Society in an adjoining room behind a wall behind him.
After dinner, he said he had two drinks in the bar area and then went upstairs to bed.
Mr Justice Woulfe told Ms Justice Denham that he was absolutely dumbfounded when he heard on Thursday morning, that Minister Dara Calleary had resigned because of attending the dinner.
He said he had not been aware of any breaches of the regulations. He said the media was saying there was a new rule reducing the numbers allowed at a gathering from 50 to six, but he said there was "wholesale confusion" in the public's understanding of the regulations that applied on 19 August.
Mr Justice Woulfe said no statutory instrument had been enacted to enforce this announcement at that stage. He apologised for any unintentional breach of the guidelines.
Mr Justice Woulfe also submitted an engineer's report to Ms Justice Denham.
The engineer carried out an inspection of the Station House Hotel in Clifden at the end of August, on Mr Justice Woulfe's behalf.
They concluded that the layout of the two rooms involved in the dinner were "separate defined spaces" and that the arrangements conformed substantially to the regulation in legal force at the time.
Ms Justice Denham concluded that on 19 August, the hotel and dinner organisers believed the rule remained that 50 people could attend an event and that Mr Justice Woulfe was in a room with fewer than 50 people.
She said it was not unreasonable for him to consider the dinner was Covid-19 compliant.
Mr Justice Woulfe did not consider the invitation to a celebratory dinner, in the context of a pandemic, from the point of view of his new status as a Supreme Court judge, Ms Justice Denham found, and was not "sufficiently vigilant" in this regard.
The judge also told Ms Justice Denham that he had not received any documents relating to judicial conduct or ethics, following his appointment as a judge.
In transcripts of conversations with the former chief justice, reprinted in the report, Mr Justice Woulfe also appears to blame the media for the controversy.
Ms Justice Denham said the fact that Ireland was experiencing a pandemic at the time of the dinner, was part of the context requiring consideration.
She said consideration was required of the regulations, the separation of powers issue and whether it was appropriate for a Supreme Court judge to attend the dinner.
Ms Justice Denham said life for everyone in the State had been affected and it had brought sorrow to many people.
She said the media reports that more than 80 people had attended this event came as a shock to many who had suffered and were still saddened.
Mr Justice Woulfe described it as a maelstrom, which had exploded around all of those who had attended.
Ms Justice Denham said it appeared to her that as a newly appointed judge, Mr Justice Woulfe's vigilance was "not yet fully honed into the judicial sphere".
He had not had an introductory programme or read any comparative judicial guidelines or codes of conduct of other jurisdictions.
The former chief justice said a member of the judiciary had to be vigilant both in court and in other activities outside court to avoid impropriety and the perception of impropriety.
No breach of the separation of powers issue
She said she was satisfied there was no breach of the separation of powers issue by Mr Justice Woulfe in attending the event in the first place.
Ms Justice Denham said it was essentially a society for mostly retired Oireachtas members, their families and friends for social and recreational purposes and current politicians were in the minority.
But she said his attendance raised another issue, as she said a judge has to take care that his or her conduct on or off the bench does not undermine the independence of the judiciary.
She said a judge should not take part in any conduct that is inappropriate or may appear to be inappropriate to a reasonable observer.
Ms Justice Denham said he did not consider the situation from this aspect as a judge of the Supreme Court.
He relied on his original conversation with the Chief Justice but neither he nor the Chief Justice knew of the dinner at that time.
She said there was a difference between four people sitting down together after a game of golf and a larger formal celebratory dinner, with speeches and a prize giving during a pandemic.
Ms Justice Denham said the advisability of the attendance of a member of the Supreme Court at a celebratory dinner, in a hotel in a public place, at a time of pandemic, required to be considered independently of compliance with Covid-19 regulations. She said this was not done.
She said he did not consider the invitation from the point of view of his new status as a Supreme Court judge and was not sufficiently vigilant in this regard.
In a transcript of some of his conversation with Ms Justice Denham, Mr Justice Woulfe appears to blame the media for the controversy.
Asked if he accepted his presence may have created a public controversy which could have adversely affected the Supreme Court, he said that for the media "to have the chance to bring down a judge" added extra fuel to the fire.
He said it was an unfortunate set of circumstances and unfortunate timing and for the public "to be presented by the media with what appeared to be a flagrant breach of the regulations and guidelines was like letting off a bomb".
Additional reporting Vivienne Traynor
