There was palpable relief in Government circles yesterday when Cyril Kelly did the decent thing and resigned as a High Court judge.
By joining Hugh O'Flaherty Mr Kelly had obviated impeachment and a possible constitutional crisis.
Then, when Michael Quinlan took a similar course of action and vacated his position as County Registrar, John O'Donoghue was able to go into the Dail and tell members that everything was hunky-dory.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was so buoyed up by the hat trick of resignations secured by the Government that he was in magnanimous mood. Instead of talking about future retribution or punishment for those implicated in the Philip Sheedy case, he spoke of their pensions.
Clearly the matter was regarded by the Government as closed.
Admittedly, the report from the Department of Justice on administrative aspects of the case had been referred to the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Law Reform and Women's Affairs, as had Mr Justice Hamilton's earlier report. But that was a technical ploy to permit their publication.
The task of the committee would be to discuss recommendations on future reforms of the judicial and administrative system. It would not get tied up in any investigation.
To make his position perfectly clear when pushed about unanswered questions, the Minister for Zero Tolerance threatened the Opposition parties with the establishment of a new tribunal of inquiry, and all the expense that that entailed, if they insisted on further prying.
The only way to resolve the conflicts of evidence between the various individuals was through a tribunal, Mr O'Donoghue intoned. And when asked whether a criminal investigation by the Garda was out of the question, the Minister took refuge in obfuscation.
He had been advised, he told Mr Jim Higgins, that the reports already produced would not be sufficient to allow the Garda to secure a successful prosecution.
The Minister was careful not to identify the source of that advice. But it echoed an official reluctance to adopt a bare-knuckled approach to the protection of the judicial system.
Even when his Department's report found Mr Michael Quinlan's conduct in having the Sheedy case relisted "fell very far short of what can be reasonably be expected of a senior official and on the face of it amounted to misbehaviour," he kicked to touch. A criminal Garda investigation should be "a decision for Government and the law officers."
Under the Constitution, "stated misbehaviour" is sufficient grounds for the Oireachtas to sack a judge. And here was an official report reflecting the ultimatum that had earlier been delivered to Mr O'Flaherty and Mr Kelly. The Government, they had been told last Friday, would seek their removal for stated misbehaviour. Unless something happened.
YESTERDAY, having nailed their hides to the barn door, the Minister for Zero Tolerance found room in his heart to be magnanimous. Both judges had resigned and the County Registrar had followed suit.
And because they had done the decent thing and declined to precipitate a constitutional crisis, the Government would increase the pensions they would normally receive.
Mr Joe Higgins, the Socialist Party TD, was scathing. The Minister's pleadings would not impress the public. The judges had resigned over alleged double standards in implementing the law, he said. And now the Minister was applying double standards of his own by awarding them nearly twice their normal pensions because of "humanitarian considerations".
We could, Mr Higgins said, "now add a silken circle to the golden circle."
Others were more reserved. With judicial and administrative blood on the carpet, Fine Gael and the Labour Party were restrained in their approach. They wanted more answers, but they were not prepared to risk yet another tribunal of inquiry, under a High Court judge.
So they shifted the ground. They hammered away at Mr O'Donoghue for a while, criticising his tardy handling of the whole affair. Brendan Howlin would not accept his efforts to put distance between himself and the judicial administrative system. And John Bruton asked a few pointed questions about the costs of buying on the open market pensions of the kind awarded.
Then they took a breather. The Department of Justice report and recommendations on judicial reform would come before an Oireachtas committee. There was a report on ethics and judicial structures from the Denham committee.
Public confidence in the judicial system had to be restored. But it would not happen in a few days. New structures and procedures would have to be put in place.
Changes in the appointments systems would be introduced. The New Zealand system of accountability would have to be studied.
It would be a long road with many turnings. The Opposition parties were prepared to wait.