Sir, - Geraldine Kennedy's excellent article "Judges should resign in wake of report" (The Irish Times, April 17th) made two points: (a) that the two judges involved should go; and (b) that the Chief Justice deserves praise for his report. While I agree totally with her views on point (a), I disagree with her praise of the Chief Justice.
In my opinion he did no more nor less than his duty. He should not be perceived as a knight in shining armour.
But what a pity Hugh O'Flaherty did not exercise more discretion in his reaction to the report by the Chief Justice. His arrogance and defiant stance when interviewed by Charlie Bird for RTE News was reminiscent of Pee Flynn's behaviour. It served only to further demean the dignity of the Supreme court. Having at first emphatically claimed he did nothing wrong and that he would not resign, he did a complete u-turn within hours by offering his resignation. It hardly indicates good judgment on his part. At least Judge Cyril Kelly had the good sense to maintain a dignified silence.
A disturbing aspect of this scandal is the attitude of the Minister for Justice Mr John O'Donoghue, of Mr John McMenamin SC of the Bar Council and of Mr Ken Murphy of the Law Society. They give the impression that it was through the justice system that the wrongdoing was discovered. They attribute the credit to the "system" for exposing the culprits. Furthermore, they expect the public to regard this scandal as a once-off lapse. Who are they trying to fool? What they should have said is that this is the first time anyone has been caught.
I particularly object to the notion put forward that the resignation of Hugh O'Flaherty restores the integrity of the judicial system. It does no such thing. The former judge still claims he did nothing wrong.
No judge, no barrister, no solicitor, no Court official and no law clerk came forward to inform the public that the course of justice had been tampered with in the Sheedy case. This fact alone is staggering. The information would have lain undisturbed in the court records except that a member of the public by chance spotted Philip Sheedy walking around freely - and Hugh O'Flaherty and Cyril Kelly would be still sitting on the bench.
Most of the big scandals of recent times have come to light by accident. All of the subsequent investigations have revealed that corrupt practices were widespread and had been in existence on a continuing basis. It is my view that the revelations in the Sheedy case and what flowed from it are symptomatic of a deeper malaise in the legal and judicial system. - Yours, etc.,
Celine Hussey, Capel Street, Dublin 1.