CONTINUING his cross examination in the afternoon Mr James Price QC, counsel for Times Newspapers, put it to Mr Reynolds that he deliberately misled the Dail over the Duggan case to save his job and the government.
Mr Reynolds repeatedly stated that he would have informed the Dail about the Duggan case during his speech on November 14th, 1994, if he had received the letter outlining the situation from the Attorney General, Mr Eoghan Fitzsimons, at any time during the debate. However, he did not receive it until 9 p.m. that night.
"There is no reason in the world, had I received the information, not to give it to the House. The minute I got the information, I gave it to them. If had received it during those five hours, I would gladly have told the House. I told the full truth on that day and I told the full truth on the following day", Mr Reynolds said.
Mr Price put it to Mr Reynolds: "The reason was that, if you told the truth in relation to Duggan, then there was not the slightest chance that Labour and Mr Spring would come back into government. The balloon would have gone up."
Mr Reynolds pointed out that, if he had wanted to do so, he could have "thrown Mr Harry Whelehan to the wolves" on the Tuesday to save the government and his position.
"But I didn't do that. I told the truth as it was then. On Wednesday, the truth came out . . . I would suggest that, if I wanted to save my skin, my job, I could have given them Mr Whelehan's head, and I would have saved my job. But I didn't do that. I don't tell lies", he said.
Mr Reynolds rejected Mr Price's suggestion that he knew there was an "extremely good chance" that Mr Fitzsimons's letter would contradict his Dail speech. "There was no way I knew what Eoghan Fitzsimons was going to say. I had no reason to believe that. I am surprised that you say that to me. Your own people, the Sunday Times (in the Irish edition), say quite the opposite. That is where the truth lies."
Mr Reynolds agreed that, alter receiving the letter from Mr Fitzsimons, he had requested that Dr Michael Woods, the then minister for social welfare, should instruct Mr Fitzsimons to visit Mr Harry Whelehan, the President of the High Court, and ask him to resign.
Mr Price then asked Mr Reynolds to read some notes, which he said were Dr Woods's record of this instruction. "Did you know, Mr Reynolds, that there is a quirk in English law that this document and many others may not be shown to the jury unless you consent?" he asked. Shaking his head, Mr Reynolds replied: "No, I don't know the quirks of English law. I am not a lawyer."
Lord Gareth Williams QC, representing Mr Reynolds, immediately requested an adjournment in the hearing for legal argument in the absence of the jury.
Alter a 10 minute break, the hearing continued.
Mr Reynolds agreed with Mr Price that he did not know that Dr Woods had noted their conversation, but he denied that Mr Whelehan was the "only person" who could save the government.
"You couldn't say he was the only one. You couldn't say that, because Mr Spring could have saved the government", Mr Reynolds said.
After asking Mr Reynolds to examine the notes, Mr Price suggested that Mr Reynolds also told Dr Woods that, if Mr Whelehan resigned, he would be appointed a judge again when the first vacancy arose. "You told Dr Woods that Mr Whelehan could have the first vacancy. Are you saying that the man is a liar?", asked Mr Price.
Mr Reynolds replied: "I don't call Michael Woods a liar. I want to hear the evidence. I don't have any recollection. It somebody there that night heard me say that, then I would accept it, yes."
Mr Reynolds denied defence claims that this decision would have been "astonishing" and "did not make any sense" because he had requested Mr Whelehan to resign for misleading the government over the Brendan Smyth affair.
"This is hypothetical . . . I want the whole truth to come out in this court and the whole aspect of this. It is a strange situation the Sunday Times have produced. Your own people wrote the truth in Ireland and wrote lies in Britain", he said.
The hearing continues today.