Scapegoats for a Profession, Uncovering Procedural Injustice is a new book by New South Wales academic Ann Daniel. A scapegoat she says is one who is made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place. There among the antipodean tales of victims in psychiatry, law and medicine is the chapter A Scandal Of Church And State and it deals with none other than our own Harry Whelehan SC, former AG and short lived President of the High Court.
"He was a curious candidate for sacrifice to the twin gods of public opinion and political expediency," writes Daniel - but, "Whelehan is set centre stage in this interpretation of events as the unlikely hero of this drama". Ireland she describes as a "small nation of educated citizens, firmly set on being informed and vigorous in voicing their views, is as close an approximation to the ideal of the Greek polis as is likely to be seen in the late 20th-century world".
Ms Daniel details the Brendan Smyth affair which brought down both Whelehan and Albert Reynolds. As her inclusion of our drama would indicate, she comes out strongly on the Whelehan side, quotes sources - mostly legal - amicable to his case and strongly condemns Reynolds and FF for turning against him. Whelehan, writes Daniel, "made a grand scapegoat" - central to the government but not a member of it, and a supporter of FF but not quite one of them, he could be offered up to appease FF's allies and to allay public alarm. "Scandals enveloped all, chaos was palpable and Whelehan, innocent lodestone of troubles, stood high in the midst. He was set to be pulled down and driven out . . . Judicial office requires government appointment. Were Fianna Fail again in government it would not look to him again. Scapegoats never return."