A three-year GSOC investigation into claims by Independent TD Clare Daly that gardaí leaked details of her arrest for suspected drink-driving has been closed after finding no evidence to support the allegation.
The controversial probe was launched after Ms Daly had lodged a complaint alleging that gardaí leaked details of her arrest for suspected drink driving on January 28, 2013 – subsequent tests showed that Ms Daly was below the limit….
Last Friday night, Brendan O’Connor spoke to Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show about the level of services for children with a disability in Ireland.
He explained that, under Irish law, every child is supposed to have an assessment of needs within six months but that only a third of children in Ireland are actually getting that assessment within the statutory timeframe.
He also said, at the end of 2015, 15,000 people were waiting for an assessment of needs – up 20% from the year before. He said some have to wait two years.
Further to this…
Diarmaid Twomey writes:
Last Friday night’s appearance by Brendan O’Connor on The Late Late Show has got huge media attention in recent days. During the course of his interview, Brendan, who has a daughter living with Down Syndrome, was at pains to point out the plight of children living with disabilities in Ireland, and the lack of services available to them and their families.
While the portion of the interview dedicated to his experience and insight was extremely powerful, and no doubt resonated with families the length and breadth of Ireland, I couldn’t help feeling that an opportunity had been lost after watching it.
Too often in Ireland, when we are confronted with injustice and inequality, we are content to simply pay lip service to the particular issue, pontificating briefly, before ultimately moving on, without ever trying to understand how we can make changes in order to alleviate the issue.
Unfortunately, Friday night was no different, in my opinion.
Ireland is unique in so many great ways, however, one of the unique aspects of our collective character that has consistently frustrated me is the hypocrisy of our attitude to politics, and our perceived inability to recognise how our interactions with politics affects vulnerable people.
We are experts at decrying the lack of availability of quality services, however, what we rarely seem to highlight is that it is us, the Irish people, that put in place the politicians that preside over the provision of these services.
If we are truly serious about creating a fair society where the children with disabilities that Brendan spoke so passionately about are not left wanting and waiting for services, we need to recognise that it is not the politicians that are the problem, it is us.
We need to embrace our responsibility as citizens of our democracy, and develop a more intellectual response to such negligence.
Twenty minutes exposure to such an issue on primetime television is all well and good, but ultimately it changes nothing. Governments shape policy. Are we voting for policies or personalities at the ballot box?
While the latest general election showed some shift in voting patterns, the resounding victory for the ‘independent’ politicians of Ireland is unlikely to make any difference. The idea of an ‘independent’ politician sounds great in principle, but the reality is quite different.
Disability services in Dublin don’t get votes in Kerry or North Tipperary. After all, it’s no coincidence that drink driving laws for the back roads of Kerry, Casino proposals for Tipperary, and God’s influence on the weather, garnered infinitely more impassioned posturing among our rurally based ‘independent’ TD’s, than the plights of disabled children throughout Ireland.
The shovel of tarmac reigns supreme in the land of the ‘independent’ politician.
Of course, it would be unfair to single out and castigate the people of Kerry and Tipperary in isolation. Ireland re-elected Fine Gael, and in doing so, we have placed Ireland’s childrens’ well-being in the hands of a party that ideologically values tax cuts over investment in public services.
At one point during Friday’s interview, Brendan asked the audience to get behind the new government, ironically omitting the fact that if Brendan, or you, or I, support Fine Gael, then by default we support the idea of lower taxes over increased and adequate supports for disabled children.
That’s not Opposition speak, that is reality, a reality I was surprised was lost on Brendan.
We get the politicians and society we deserve. Unfortunately for vulnerable children and those without a voice, they too live with the consequences of our decisions and ideologies.
But this goes beyond politics. One thing that has always struck me when debates around the need for increased services take hold is the contradictory nature of our aversion to tax rate increases.
During these debates, we often hear comparisons being made with more developed social and health systems in other nations, predominantly the Scandinavian ones. However, we rarely hear about the level of tax they pay to fund their progressive societies.
Since the establishment of our state, elections have been won off the back of promised goodies.
These goodies almost always take the form of tax cuts, and every single time the allure of the extra few bob seems too good to resist. We don’t want the USC tax, so its offered up in exchange for votes.
We decried the increase in VAT, so it’s tinkered with to “boost business”. We marched on the streets against water charges, and the newly elected government capitulate.
Anyone who dares to mention the need for corporations to contribute a bit more, or even just pay the actual rate of 12.5%, is labelled a lunatic and silenced. We seem removed from the reality of the need for substantial taxes in order to have high quality services.
No one likes paying tax, and very few of us seem to trust our politicians with the tax we do pay. But the reality is we are electing the politicians we blame for putting vulnerable children in such dire circumstances and we control the tightening public purse strings.
We are the ones who take to the streets in opposition to the introduction of new taxes, yet feel we show solidarity with vulnerable children by tuning into the Late Late and experiencing anger for twenty minutes.
We can’t have it every which way.
As well intentioned and genuine as the anger is following Brendan’s appearance on The Late Late Show, anger just isn’t enough. Action is what is required. Improved services need more resources to deliver. Increased resources demand larger contributions by all of us.
Sadly, until Ireland develops a social conscience at the ballot box, and accepts the need for higher taxes to care for all of her children, I believe that history is destined to repeat itself.
In years to come, the pages of our history will be littered with the scribbles of impassioned cries for help. Brendan himself eluded to this. Many cries will be noted. Our actions will decide if they are heeded.
Journalist William Campbell (above) interviews Jim O’Callaghan (top) in the latest episode of William’s enjoyable, spin-free Here’s How current affairs podcast.
Mr O Callaghan, a barrister and new Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin Bay South was at the heart of the negotiations between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil that led to the minority government.
From the podcast:
William: “Why didn’t you go into coalition with Fine Gael?”
Jim: “Because we gave a commitment that we wouldn’t go into government with Fine Gael.”
William: “That’s a circular argument, why did you give that commitment?”
Jim: “Because we didn’t want to go into government with Fine Gael.”
Last night in the Dáil, during the Adjournment Debate, Independents 4 Change TDs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace addressed Tánaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald.
They were speaking about Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan’s representation at the O’Higgins Commission of Investigation in respect of Sgt Maurice McCabe.
Ms Daly and Mr Wallace spoke in the Dáil before transcripts of Ms O’Sullivan’s legal counsel Colm Smyth SC speaking before Judge O’Higgins were revealed on RTÉ’s Prime Time last night.
The transcripts revealed that Mr Smyth initially told Mr O’Higgins: “My instructions are to challenge the integrity of Sgt McCabe and his motivation.”
The two men then had the following exchange:
O’Higgins: “…An attack on somebody’s credibility and his motivation or integrity is something that really doesn’t form part of this inquiry. It would be necessary for you to go further and say that the complaints and the actions of Sgt McCabe were motivated by… that is motivation was dishonest or wrong…In other words that he made these allegations not in good faith but because he was motivated by malice, by some such motive and that impinges on his integrity. If those are your instructions from the Commissioner, so be it.”
Smyth: “So be it. That is the position judge.”
O’Higgins: “Those are your…”
Smyth: “Yes. As the evidence will demonstrate judge…[later] this isn’t something I’m pulling out of the sky, judge, I mean I can only act on instructions.”
Later, in November – after Sgt McCabe produced a transcript ofhis meeting in Mullingar with two gardaí – Mr Smyth told Justice O’Higgins that, in fact, he, on behalf of Ms O’Sullivan, was not challenging Sgt McCabe’s integrity but just his credibility and motivation.
Mr Smyth said he erred earlier when he said ‘integrity’.
Further to this…
Clare Daly: “I listened to the Tánaiste during Leaders’ Questions with a mixture of disbelief and awe. Does she really believe that the questions about the conduct of the Garda Commissioner are going to go away? Does she really believe that, by saying that the Commissioner made it clear that she supported Maurice McCabe, it is the end of the matter?”
“What the Commissioner’s statement actually said was that she had never regarded Maurice McCabe as malicious. Fair play to her, that is very nice, but it is not the issue at hand. The issue in front of the public is that the Garda Commissioner’s legal team, allegedly on her instruction, attempted to mislead the commission deliberately by entering false information in order to challenge the motivation and credibility of Maurice McCabe.”
“The fact that legal counsel has stated that the attempt to challenge his integrity was its idea and not the Commissioner’s does not make any difference. It is reminiscent of the former Minister, Alan Shatter, throwing Oliver Connolly under the bus.”
“The commission was told that two senior gardaí would give direct evidence to the effect that Maurice McCabe was present at a meeting and stated that he operated under malice. It was only when irrefutable evidence was presented showing it to be false that the allegation was withdrawn.”
“If the Tánaiste does not have a problem with this, we are in even bigger trouble than I believed. There is an immediate crisis of trust and confidence in the Commissioner. Public statements uttered by her in support of whistleblowers have been contradicted by her actions behind the scenes.”
“The Tánaiste should not be surprised about that because we are not. Eighteen times since the Tánaiste became Minister, Deputy Wallace and I have tabled the issue of Commissioner O’Sullivan’s treatment of the whistleblowers Mr. Keith Harrison and Mr. Nick Kehoe.”
“The Tánaiste has done nothing. Will she launch a full investigation into the Commissioner’s actions in accordance with the Garda Síochána (Policing Authority and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, under which she can investigate and remove the Commissioner for actions that discredit her office?”
“Will she commission the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Office, GSOC, to launch an investigation? If not, why not?
I am reminded of a memorable contribution by Deputy Wallace in the Dáil when he told the former Minister that it was time for the latter to go and to take the then Commissioner with him. It is obvious that it is time for the current Commissioner to go. Unless the Tánaiste acts, the Commissioner will take her with her.”
Mick Wallace: “If Maurice McCabe had not made a recording, the judge would have been compelled to believe the two officers and Maurice McCabe would have been destroyed. This development was not even mentioned in the O’Higgins report. Surely, that undermines the report’s integrity.”
“We still do not know whether Ms Nóirín O’Sullivan’s legal team, under her direction, handed documents to the commission that contained a false statement. That is supposedly a criminal offence. This is a serious matter.”
“I find it difficult to believe that, when there is so much discussion about doing things differently in all aspects of politics, Fianna Fáil does not want to know about this situation. It just wants the issue to go away as well. This is shocking.”
“What the Commissioner says in public is different to what is happening on the ground.Keith Harrison and Nick Kehoe have been treated abysmally for two years. Both are out sick now. One gets less than €300 per week and the other gets nothing. Every effort has been made to hound them out of their jobs.”
“It is two years since Mr. Harrison tried to get a proper hearing and he has only had one proper meeting with GSOC. GSOC requested Mr. Kehoe’s file after a poor internal Garda investigation. The Garda was given 30 days to deliver it but still has not done so.”
“Ms Nóirín O’Sullivan asserts that dissent is not disloyalty, but that is not true. Now it is being claimed that the question of integrity was not raised and the senior counsel is being thrown under the bus or is taking one for the team.”
“The Commissioner is not even rowing back on how she questioned Maurice McCabe’s motivation. She has not rowed back on the fact that she was questioning his character. Who in God’s name would be a whistleblower? She is not fit to be the Commissioner.”
“Nothing has changed. It is as it was. We will not improve or change how we do policing in Ireland until we change the hierarchy and start from scratch.”
1. Dublin lo-fi pop project and long-term ‘sheet favourite No Monster Club returns with a new single from last year’s I Feel Magic album.
2. The labour of love of Popical Island’s Bobby Aherne, NMC have been plying their bockety wares for a few years now, having toured with The Polyphonic Spree, Wavves, HEALTH, Jeffrey Lewis, Ariel Pink, and Jeff the Brotherhood, among others.
3. Streaming above is the video for Drinking at the Doldrums. In the band’s own words, it is: “The official No Monster Club videogame – the world’s first ‘choose your own adventure’ in which you are given no options whatsoever”. Action, action, action.
4. Appearing next on the festival rounds, the band will be at Castlepalooza, Knockstockan and Galway Arts fests. More info here.
Verdict: A grin-inducer for fans of pop and/or dementedly sunshiny melodies of various stripes.
From top: Tánaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and RTÉ’s Miriam O’Callaghan; Ms Fitzgerald
Like a boss.
Last night, Tánaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald appeared on RTÉ’s Prime Time.
Presenter Miriam O’Callaghan repeatedly asked Ms Fitzgerald was she either surprised or concerned by Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan’s attempts – via senior counsel Colm Smyth – to undermine Sgt Maurice McCabe’s credibility during the commission of investigation by Justice Kevin O’Higgins into Sgt McCabe’s complaints of malpractice.
Ms Fitzgerald’s appearance came after journalist Katie Hannon revealed transcripts of the exchanges between Mr Smyth and Mr O’Higgins which can be read here.
Grab a tay.
Miriam O’Callaghan: “Were you taken aback to discover the approach that the Commissioner and her legal team took in the O’Higgins’ investigation which was to challenge the motivation and credibility of the whistleblower Maurice McCabe? Were you taken aback by that?”
Frances Fitzgerald: “Well, let’s put this into context. What we’re hearing about tonight is partial evidence, apparently, a transcript that was given at a Commission of Inquiry that interviewed 97 witnesses, took over 34 days of hearings, was held in private – nobody asked for it to be held in public – and a couple of weeks ago we had the report given to me and then published after certain legal actions, 360 pages of a report, making a lot of recommendations, having examined the issues that Sean Guerin had examined in a preliminary way two years ago.”
O’Callaghan: “Ok.”
Fitzgerald: “Now it’s illegal to publish these transcripts. For me to comment on them, I don’t know whether their partial, whether they’re full and I think it is undermining of the overall commissioned report when we select out certain transcripts. So I do have to make that point…”
O’Callaghan: “Let me come back in there. OK. But let me come back in on my original question..”
Fitzgerald: “Yes, can I…”
O’Callaghan: “…which was: are you taken aback by the approach that the Commissioner and her legal team took at the O’Higgins investigation in relation to the whistleblower Maurice McCabe? Because, in public, the Commissioner was talking about valuing his role as a whistleblower and yet, in private, in these sessions – and they’re now public – she was actually actively challenging the motivation and his credibility.”
Fitzgerald: “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me, as minister for justice, to go into the details of the instructions that were or weren’t given to a particular legal team…”
O’Callaghan: “But they’re in the public domain now minister.”
Fitzgerald: “Illegally and one doesn’t know how comprehensive they are, but the point I want to make…”
O’Callaghan: “But they’re true, that’s the point…”
Fitzgerald: “Well…”
O’Callaghan: “That’s the role and the approach that the Commissioner adopted. And I’m just asking you: are you surprised at that approach?”
Fitzgerald: “What I have to say to you is that you’re asking me to second guess the commission effectively by your question. Because what we have is a Justice O’Higgins who heard all of the evidence, who was in the unique position to hear everything, to see the approach of all the different legal teams, to interview witnesses and in his final report he does not include the particular points that you’ve made.”
O’Callaghan: “Are you happy that this was excluded?”
Fitzgerald: “But what I have to say…”
O’Callaghan: “No, no, actually, that’s an important point minister.”
Fitzgerald: “It is an important point.”
O’Callaghan: “Are you happy that that exchange was excluded from the final report?”
Fitzgerald: “But what you’re asking me to do and I want to go on and answer your point in relation to the Commissioner but you’re asking me to actually second guess a commission of..”
O’Callaghan: “I’m not.”
Fitzgerald: “You are..”
O’Callaghan: “You just said it wasn’t in the final report…”
Fitzgerald: “Yes.”
O’Callaghan: “And I’m asking you are you surprised that exchange isn’t in the final report?”
Fitzgerald: “But I have to accept what Justice O’Higgins who we gave the statutory responsibility to do: to do this investigation, this Commission of Investigation. This is a methodology that’s, if you like, well tried and tested. I accept fully, as does the Government, the findings in the report and I believe we should be focusing on those now and the role of victims particularly and the changes that are needed to be made in An Garda Siochana in relation to investigations but in relation to the Commissioner, can I say that, what I have to go by, is what she said in her statement last night where she says that ‘Sgt Maurice McCabe’s contribution is valued and the service is changed for the better in response to the issues about which he complained’.”
O’Callaghan: “But minister, that is totally at variance with what her lawyers, acting on her instructions, were doing and saying about Maurice McCabe…”
Later
Fitzgerald: “For me to start commenting on that, is to take partial transcript that I don’t know the context, what happened before it, what happened after it. I have to go on what the Commission of Investigation said. What they, what Justice O’Higgins said in the 370 pages and I go on what the Commissioner said in relation to her approach..”
