‘They Tried To Blame Maurice For Everything. It Was Bullshit’

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From top: Sgt Maurice McCabe; Former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan and Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan

I’ve spoken to several people who were in attendance throughout, if not the entirety, most of the days that the Commission took evidence and they say that it was if Sgt McCabe was on trial. He said as much when he was under cross examination on several occasions and a serving member of the Gardai – that I’ve spoken to – who was present at several days of proceedings has told me:

‘They tried to blame Maurice for everything and it was bullshit.’

The ‘they’ in this case is the Garda HQ, and what that member of the force was referring to was either individual Gardaí or An Garda Siochana corporately claiming that Sgt McCabe was actually the person at fault in each of the cases that he blew the malpractice whistle on. When of course the judge found out that he wasn’t blamed at all.

You’re not going to find much reference to this in the completed report. Much of the process, the business of the commission revolved around Maurice McCabe having to prove that he wasn’t guilty of the very malpractices that he had highlighted in the first place by bringing them to the attention of the Confidential Recipient [Oliver Connolly] and to [Fianna Fáil leader] Micheál Martin.

In one case, to give example, he was accused by gardai of having given an instruction that was central to one of the cases of malpractice but, after scrutinising his diary from many, many years earlier, McCabe was actually able to offer the watertight alibi that he wasn’t on duty that particular day that he was accused of having done something because he was actually present at the birth of one of his children.

…Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan and many of the individual senior officers – be they retired or serving – were all represented by the Chief State Solicitor’s Office and acted for, at the commission, by Colm Smyth, senior counsel. So the legal strategy was, in most cases, centralised. The line of attack on McCabe was organised.

RTÉ’s Philip Boucher Hayes speaking on Drivetime last night.

Listen back to his report in full here

Earlier: Who is Misleading Whom

Previously: ‘Something For Everyone’

Clarifying Matters

Rollingnews

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24 thoughts on “‘They Tried To Blame Maurice For Everything. It Was Bullshit’

  1. Cot

    At the top level, the gardai are corrupt, and will always be corrupt. It’s like the Catholic Church or Big Business.

    1. Robert

      As a Lord Acton once said: “Power corrupts” though what he meant was it corrupts our belief that those with it should be subject to the same standards of behaviour as those without.

    2. classter

      I don’t know if the top level guards are indeed ‘corrupt’

      Even if they were, your point that they’ll ‘always be corrupt’ is mind-numbingly stupid. Even if it were so, there can be variations in how corrupt one might be & more importantly, how corrupt one’s actions can be and still prosper.

      We need to concentrate on increasing the risk of being caught & effectively punishing those caught. A task not helped by your sort of idiotic fatalism.

      1. realPolithicks

        “there can be variations in how corrupt one might be & more importantly, how corrupt one’s actions can be and still prosper.”

        That’s one of the dumbest statements I’ve seen on BS, and thats saying a lot. How corrupt you can be and still prosper! Wtf does that even mean?

  2. Tish Mahorey

    A neighbour of our family in the 80s ended up in care for serious depression following years of harassment by several local cops for exposing the criminality of one of their group. His entire life was ruined, untrue rumours were spread about him, he was constantly stopped by cops for no reason, his family were intimidated, etc. Nothing was done about his statement to the cops. No investigation, nothing.

    He died in the mid 90s from cancer which most people reckon was brought on by years of stress for reporting a dodgy cop for taking bribes for various favours.

    This state is rotten and when you get close to exposing it, it will set out to destroy you. The system discourages whistleblowers as can see with this case.

      1. They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab

        I know someone whose parents clearly dropped her on her head as a baby

  3. Anne

    This is just so.. I’m trying to think of how to describe this appropriately.. it’s all just so DISGUSTING.
    Proper disgusting. Criminal in fact.
    That they would try and do this to a man, whose concern was in fact for victims of crime.

    They’re not fit for purpose.

    They need a complete overhaul.

    When are we going to get an explanation? And if ye can’t come up with anything beside we never really felt the way we acted, just go away off and think of something more credible and stop insulting our intelligence.

    1. delacaravanio

      Quiet, honey, you don’t know how big this government is. It goes all the way to the President. – Homer Simpson

      This is a political problem: The guards are political, the department of justice is political, and the response to this crisis has been political. If this is true an attempt was made to drag an honest man’s name through the dirt by colluding political guards at the top of the force. The current setup is what created this mess.

      A new police authority was established recently. In theory it is there to control the guards. It should be allowed to do its job and depoliticise the guards. But will the department of justice let it?

  4. ForFecksSake

    This is the difference between David Davin Power, Paul Reynolds and a proper journalist.

  5. Shelbyville Manhattan

    When O’Sullivan goes, there’ll be a big thing about replacing her with an outsider. Naturally, we’ll end up with the equivalent of buying a journeyman player on Transfer Deadline Day in a panic. Think Andy Carroll.

    New guy comes in and announces some changes are going to happen. Everyone from middle management up spends the next 2 years undermining them at every step. Under severe pressure, a cockup is made. Minor or major, forgivable or not, doesn’t matter. New guy is forced out by pliant journos, fed a stream of bullshit from his underlings.

    Now we need a safe pair of hands. Someone who knows the proper way. The Garda way. We’ve tried an outsider and it was a bust, let’s never do that again. Endgame: someone who’s currently on Tier 3 takes over and the whole cycle of bullshit begins.

    1. realPolithicks

      When the last guy was replaced by his own assistant you knew nothing was going to change…

  6. Joe cool

    Has she resigned yet? Is it a case of keep the head down Noirin till we create the next scandal, so this one goes away? Her and Fitzgerald need to go and now

    1. read twice

      Yeah, spot on. By the sounds of it, he was put under a lot of pressure at this O’Higgins Commission; put on trial for reporting a crime.

      I was always expecting O’Higgins to find “no evidence of corruption” in the Guards, which he did. But by the sounds of it, they were expecting McCabe to come up will all the evidence.

      That’s like this:
      Witness to a crime calls the Guards: “Hey, I’ve just witnessed a murder!! It happened 2 minutes ago on the corner of….”
      Guard interrupts: “What?! You’re just being malicious. Submit a file to the DPP or it didn’t happen.”

      Justice, gombeen shtyle.

  7. Kolmo

    What is it they are trying to protect? – surely it’s harder to lie and cause all this bullshit than to admit mistakes, or even corruption, the amount of effort they are putting into demonising a McCabe and anyone else stupid/brave enough highlighting wrongdoing, is really worrying.

  8. Toni The Exotic Dancer

    The entire legal systemt is inept/corrupt and unaccountable. Bring in an outsider.

  9. ollie

    If you react of this corruption google Jerry McGrath.
    Then aske yourself: Would you appoint a social worker as Minster for Justice?

    1. ollie

      If you really want to see the imact of this corruption google Jerry McGrath.
      Then ask yourself: Would you appoint a social worker as Minster for Justice?

  10. They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab

    Adversarial court process in adversarial court process shocker.

  11. Father Filth

    If the outcome of this carry on is to hobble Fitzgerald’s chances of becoming leader in the future, i’m okay with that!

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