THE man at the centre of the fall of the last coalition government, Mr Harry Whelehan, does not know if there was anything he could have done differently during his controversial term of office.
"I think I probably would have been a little more attentive to my reputation," he said in his first RTE interview since returning to his Bar practice.
The former Attorney General and shortest ever serving President of the High Court insisted that he was driven by legal imperatives in his decisions on the X case, Cabinet confidentiality and the High Court presidency.
He could understand, on the X case, why people would say, why didn't he sit on it, he stated. But he was the constitutional law officer of the land and he was independently charged with protecting the Constitution and vindicating the rights of people guaranteed by the Constitution.
When the X case was presented to him, he was the only person in the State who could take on the role of guaranteeing the right to life of this unborn. However appalling the predicament was, he was left with no option but to act because it was really a matter for the courts to decide between the right of the girl to travel and the right of the unborn to life.
Asked if he was doing Fianna Fail a favour by challenging the Beef Tribunal on grounds of cabinet confidentiality, Mr Whelehan said there was absolutely no truth in it.
He reiterated his side of the story on the Brendan Smyth case, as already told to the Dail committee's inquiry into the matter. It was absurd to suggest, he stated, that he was a member of Opus Dei.
He was very pleased that he was finally appointed President of the High Court, he continued, since it had been a source of political torment. He was "devastated" when the then Taoiseach, Mr Reynolds, denounced him in the subsequent Dail debate.
There was no question of him being able to continue because of the resultant lack of confidence in him, he said.