The year of 1994 was marked by the first IRA ceasefire and in the Republic by the collapse of the Fianna Fáil-Labour government over the appointment of a High Court judge.
In both cases taoiseach Albert Reynolds was centrally involved and the latter appointment of attorney general Harry Whelehan led to him resigning from office in November 1994 having been in office for only two years and nine months.
Whelehan was already a controversial figure within the Labour Party after his intervention in the X case in which he stopped a 14-year-old girl, who had been raped, travelling to Britain for an abortion.
Tensions between the two parties became unbearable in the autumn of 1994 when it was revealed that an extradition warrant from the RUC for paedophile priest Fr Brendan Smyth sat on Whelehan’s desk for eight months without being acted upon.
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Whelehan claimed he never saw the extradition request. There was public uproar over the case. At the same time there was a vacancy for the position of president of the High Court.
Whelehan expressed an interest in the position and Reynolds went ahead and appointed him in the absence of Labour ministers who walked out of cabinet.
Newly released material from the Department of An Taoiseach show how Reynolds attempted to justify the appointment of Whelehan.
A draft note was prepared for the taoiseach as he faced a motion of no confidence in the Dáil over the handling of Whelehan’s appointment.
In material submitted to Mr Reynolds for his draft speech on a Dáil confidence debate in 1994, a Government Secretariat civil servant advised on “custom and practice” over the promotion of the attorney-general.
“The former tánaiste, in his speech on November 16, also referred to what he described as a speaking note,” a draft speech for Mr Reynolds stated.
“It was, in fact, a briefing note – prepared for me by the government secretary at the time of the appointment of the former attorney-general on the terms and conditions of his employment.
“I should, for historical reasons, say something about the origin of the note. From inquiries which I have since made I understand that the note was in fact first drawn up during Mr Éamon de Valera’s term of office as taoiseach by the-then secretary of the government.
“It had been carried forward in that format and context for almost 40 years.
“As Deputy Spring indicated, when he brought the existence of the briefing note to my attention, I told him I had not drawn on it on the occasion of the appointment of the former attorney general.
“However, the real point here is not what the briefing note says but the custom and practice which has operated since the foundation of the State and, indeed, since the mid-50s when the note was first drafted.
“The record shows that of the 22 holders of the office of attorney general prior to Mr Whelehan, 14 were appointed to high judicial office.”
The taoiseach’s draft reply material then ended with a quote in Latin: “Res ipsa locquiter”. It translates as “the thing speaks for itself”.