W2E-007 Irish Times editorials-0.txt
ROGUES OR FOOLS?

In all justice it will be necessary to hear from the Attorney General, Mr Eoghan Fitzimons, and his predecessor, Mr Harry Whelehan, before forming a final or complete view of what Mr Albert Reynolds, Mr Bertie Ahern and Mrs Maire Geoghegan-Quinn told the Dail yesterday afternoon. The lawyers'versions of events will unfold before the Committee of the House which is now set to investigate the entire circumstances surrounding the Smyth case and the appointment of Mr Whelehan as President of the High Court.

Mr Fitzsimons, in particular, has had a series of challenges put down to him by the members of the Government he serves. He finds himself in a most invidious position.

But if his evidence to the Committee does not damn Mr Reynolds and certain of his Cabinet colleagues as rogues, it will undoubtedly confirm them as fools. Indeed, the latter indictment is hardly necessary. Never has the Dail been presented with such pathetic, stumbling, self-serving palaver. Letters were left lying around the place. Mr Reynolds received papers which he did not understand. Mr Ahern had the job of passing them up to him - which he did, without comprehending them. The best endeavours of Mr Fitzsimons to deliver some simple, clear conclusions to Mr Reynolds and his colleagues seem to have failed to penetrate.

The coming days will tell a lot. And there may be quite a lot to tell. At the core of the extraordinary events of the past four weeks, there still remains the unanswered question of why the mechanisms in the Attorney General's office moved so slowly on the Smyth case - given that they had moved so very much more swiftly and efficiently in other cases. And there is the puzzling question of why Albert Reynolds went through storm and tempest, taking the highest risks (not least, as he himself has insisted, on the peace process), in order to further Mr Whelehan's suit. If it was no more than an exercise in showing Dick Spring who was boss, it amounted to a costly lesson.

Last night all the indications were that Mr Spring and Labour are moving towards the establishment of a rainbow coalition with Fine Gael and Democratic Left. Clearly, there is a strong body of opinion both within Leinster House and outside that an election is not desirable at this stage. It would suit political and commercial life not to be disrupted, especially over Christmas, but the case for a purgative election is a strong one.

Mr Spring's and Labour's judgement stand severely indicted in this sorry saga. The facts which forced them to finally abandon their plans to re-enter government with Fianna Fail would have been made available to them had they asked. It ought not to have had to come down to the painstaking and resourceful journalism of Ms Geraldine Kennedy in The Irish Times to set out the details on Monday. Were it not for the publication of her report, it is almost certain that Fianna Fail and Labour would have formed a Government in the Dail yesterday. There are many among the electorate who would welcome the opportunity at this stage to pass a verdict on all of those who have contributed to the present debacle.

Last week Labour was unwilling to have a full Dail debate to clear the air on the issues which were being pressed by the Opposition - notably by Mr John Bruton. It was only the last in a series of incidents in which the party seemed to take the position that it did not want to know the worst; the report of the Beef Tribunal, the tax amnesty, the passports affair, to take the best known examples. Up to yesterday morning it appeared that Labour was unwilling to face what virtually every other observer of the political scene could read only too clearly; that Fianna Fail had not told the whole story. Better late than never.
