Tag Archives: Clare Daly

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Further to Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly’s interview on Morning Ireland this morning in relation to the treatment of Garda whistleblowers and, during which, she called for the resignation of Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan.

The matter was raised with Taoiseach Enda Kenny during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil today.

Mr Kenny had the following exchanges with Sinn Fein TD Mary Lou McDonald and MS Daly.

Mary Lou McDonald: “You say the minister [for justice Frances Fitzgerald] will reflect on these matters and decide what to do. I understand that the minister has in fact been in possession of correspondence for some months. I understand that the minister actually failed to respond to a number of Garda whistleblowers. Can I ask you Taoiseach, who’s in charge here? Is the minister in charge? Is the commissioner in charge? Who is accountable for these practices? Who is accountable for the smearing and targeting of Garda whistleblowers. Do you have confidence Taoiseach in the commissioner? Do you have confidence that she is discharging her duties fully and faithfully. Do you have confidence in her capacity to protect whistleblowers? And I would ask you the same question of your minister, Minister Frances Fitzgerald.”

….

Enda Kenny: “I haven’t seen the correspondence that the minister received, nor should I because it was sent to her [France Fitzgerald] under that [the Protected Disclosures] act.I assume that the information, contained therein, needs to be examined and needs to be reflected upon very carefully becaue it is very serious.”

“Otherwise, it wouldn’t be received under that section of the act. Somebody’s got to do that Deputy [Mary Lou] McDonald and I would expect that that would be, or certainly that that could be a member of the judiciary who will examine the contents of the document received and see whether they stand up or whether they don’t.”

“Obviously, out of that, out of that comes a decision about what action might or might not be taken. I’ve already said I’ve absolute confidence in the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner, I don’t have any reason not to.”

….

Clare Daly: “Taoiseach, you might have got away with that response to deputy McDonald, if you could call it a response, if this was an isolated incident of mistreatment of whistleblowers and I note that you’re confidence in this minister and the commissioner are a bit like the time you gave 100% confidence to the last two before it went to zero overnight.”

“Now, exactly two years ago this week, I put it to you that a Garda whistleblower in the Midlands region had come forward with serious information regarding Garda involvement in the drugs trade. Information which was indisputable.”

“Now that individual Nick Keogh has subsequently been vindicated by an internal Garda inquiry which supported his allegations in that regard. And yet, two and half years on, this whistleblower has been out sick for almost a year, he’s surviving on just over €200 a week. He’s had five internal investigations drummed up against him. Medical certificates admitted saying he was out with work-related stress were changed to absence from flu, while the Superintendent who stood over all of that is on the promotions list.”

“Now you were twice approached by a Garda in that division and warned about a senior officer who failed to deal with complaints in that area and twice, since you were approached, that senior officer has been promoted. Including, being handpicked by the Commissioner for a high-profile job in the Phoenix Park, despite three complaints against Garda whistleblowers against him.”

“Four times, one of the Garda whistleblowers wrote directly to your Minster for Justice and told her of the treatment he was experiencing. He made the point that, as his colleague in a different region was getting exactly the same treatment that it couldn’t be a coincidence and it was inconceivable that senior management and the Garda Commissioner would not be aware of it.”

“Nineteen times myself and Deputy Wallace have raised what has been happening to whistleblowers Nick Keogh and Keith Harrison, who’s out two years surviving on a pittance with a young family. He’s post has been opened. Garda patrol cars cruising down a lane where he lived 25 kilometres from the nearest Garda station. The HSE called to his kids – all on Commissioner O’Sullivan’s watch.”

“So, really, how many examples do you need to be presented to you in terms of the gulf between the public statements of the Commissioner and her private actions in relation to dealing with whistleblowers before you’re going to act. Your minister has had [inaudible] from the O’Higgins commission. She’s had the Section 41 complaint from the civilian head of An Garda Siochana and, most shockingly, she has had a protected disclosure of two senior gardai outlining systematic, organised, orchestrated campaign to not just discredit a whistleblower but to annihilate him with the full involvement of the present and former commissioner. So I want to ask you, Taoiseach, is very simple. What in God’s name do you need another investigation for? Is it not patently obvious that it’s beyond time for the commissioner to go?”

Kenny: “Well, the question here is in respect of the, of the information received under the Protected Disclosure Act and that has been received by the Minister for Justice. She has to assess that and appoint a person of competence to deal with it. As I say, whatever is in that documentation, either stands up or it doesn’t. And in that regard it is a very serious matter. The powers of GSOC are there for all to see, the justice has requested that those powers be extended and the minister is considering that. The Independent Police Authority itself has been asked for its views on, on the treatment of whistleblowers and those in the gardai who made disclosures known about wrongdoing or alleged wrongdoing. From that point of view, as I said, whistleblowers should not be in the position that you outline here for two members of the gardai and, obviously, if these investigations have been taking place, whether by GSOC or internally, this matter has to be concluded. Whistleblowers have always provided a valuable service in the public interest and I respect that completely and will defend it. In the case of the most recent documents received by the Minister for Justice , we’ve got to deal with that by appointing a person of ability to go through that documentation and assess whether or not the contents of it stand up or whether they don’t. And I expect that the minister will make an announcement about that very soon, Deputy Daly.”

Daly: “You tell us that whistleblowers shouldn’t be treated poorly and you’ll respect and defend that but you must have a different interpretation of her respect and defence than I have. Because you have been presented with evidence, and your minister has, over a period of two and a half years, that that has not been the case.”

“You tell us that GSOC has the powers that the powers are there for all to see. The powers are not there for all to see, even GSOC have said they don’t have the powers to deal with this situation. Does it not seem odd to you, minister, or Taoiseach, when you listen to the commissioner this morning, when she says that the gardai is an area where she wants to encourage whistleblowers to come forward despite all of the evidence that these people have been mistreated.”

“So, could you maybe tell me this? If the commissioner herself is not directly involved in that harassment, do you not have a problem that her authority is so discredited that instructions she has allegedly given – for whistleblowers to be protected – are being wholesale ignored across the ranks of An Garda Siochana, because that is the evidence that is being presented to your minister over a whole period of time.”

“So if you mean what you say, and you really do really respect and defend whistleblowers, you’d be answering very differently because you’d actually be doing something rather than just talking about it.”

Watch Dáil proceedings live here

Earlier: “Word Came Down From The Top That He Be Crushed”

Previously: When The Whistle Blows

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

Clarifying Matters

The Thin Blue Timeline Updated

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From top: Clare Daly TD; Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan

This morning.

Further to revelations concerning the treatment of Garda whistleblowers by senior members of the force Clare Daly went on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland earlier to call for the resignation of Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan.

Grab a tay

Cathal MacCoille: “The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald is considering allegations made by two Gardaí regards what they say is a campaign against them run by senior Gardaí. We asked the Minister to appear on the programme, she wasn’t available. Independent TD Clare Daly met the two gardaí a short time ago. I asked her outside the obvious limitations of speaking outside Dáil privilege what the two Gardaí had said to her about how they were treated.”

Clare Daly: “I suppose it fits in very much with what we’ve been saying, about the huge gulf between public statements of the Commissioner offering support to whistleblowers in the force, and what goes on behind the scenes.Now, we would be aware for some time now that the people making protected disclosures have been subjected to bullying and harassment.

What is so shocking is we’re seeing a lot of what they’ve been saying and what they’ve experienced completely vindicated, in the most shocking terms by one senior officer who admitted that he played a part in that, and in essence what’s been said is that there was a deliberate and organised campaign to annihilate this whistleblower, word came down from the top that he be crushed.

He had to be discredited, inaccurate information was given about him in the most horrific way, text messages were sent to Gardaí, people in the media told “you don’t want to be talking with him now, you know all about him, hint hint”, with some more graphic detail beside it.

Politicians, who I think need to come clean, also got the message about him. What it was, was an attempt to isolate and crush this man, because he had the audacity to speak up against the hierarchy, and I suppose the most serious part of all of this, was that, the claim is, it was done utterly with the knowledge of the former and present Commissioner.”

Mr MacCoille: “Now, we have to point out that what the Commissioner has sent, and what I see here in the Examiner, is that she’s not going to comment on any particular protected disclosure, but she again said she welcomes any protected disclosure, and that she has expressed her support for employees with issues and concerns. She has actively said (the aforementioned). You, from what you hear… are you at the point where you don’t accept what she’s saying?”

Ms Daly: “I was at that point long ago. I know for a fact that people that have come forward under the watch of Commissioner O’Sullivan with issues and concerns have had no contact from her at all in relation to their claims. People who in their stations have been doing the bullying have been included on the promotions list, while they are out sick from work, isolated, harassed, on very low pay.

The reality is for those people is the complete polar opposite of what the commissioner has said. And in fairness, the O’Higgins report itself gave evidence of the gulf between statements and reality. Because the O’Higgins Commission showed that despite the statements made, the instruction of the Commissioner’s legal team was very much to attack the character of Maurice McCabe. I don’t accept it all, that’s not the reality.”

Mr MacCoille: “There are two issues that arise here: one is the response of the government, one is the response of the Commissioner. Let’s talk about the commissioner first. What do you think the position of the Commissioner is on what you’ve just said?”

Ms Daly: “Well, once the O’Higgins reported was published, myself and Deputy Mick Wallace called for the Commissioner to go. I think that is even more the case now, because, let’s not for get, the civilian head of the Garda Síochána made a Section 41 complaint to the Minister about the treatment of whistleblowers, we know that’s been on the Minister’s desk.

The main whistleblower that has come forward under the reign of the current commissioner have written four times directly to the Minister about the problems he has faced. What more information does the government need before it should take action?

I think the Commissioner has to go, and if the Government doesn’t deal with this, then the Minister will find herself joining her fairly quickly.”

MacCoille: “But I’ll make the obvious point to you, that you’re accepting the allegations, that you’ve met the whistleblowers, and read the report in today’s Examiner that senior officers mounted a smear campaign with approval. But you seem to be accepting one side of the campaign and not hearing the other, the Commissioner’s side. She says she’s behind whistleblowers, and will support them.”

Daly: “I’ve been hearing that for two-and-a-half years, and if it was just an isolated report that landed out of the blue, there might be some credibility in that approach. But what we have now is an avalanche, we have the treatment of the previous whistleblowers, we have the revelations of O’Higgins, we have the civil head’s Section 41 complaint. It goes on and on and on.

We’ve seen, and met, and know some of the whistleblowers quite well. Their lives have been destroyed, their families have been brought into the loop and targeted in the most vile and shocking of ways.

Y’know, the gas thing is, when I was talking to some of them yesterday, and they were reading the report. Over the years, a lot of them thought, ‘are we being paranoid? Maybe we’re overstating it or exaggerating it?’ Y’know what, they didn’t even know the half of it. While that was comforting it was also really shocking as well, and everybody ought to be worried.”

Listen here

Senior Garda Tried To Destroy Source (Michael Clifford, irish Examiner)

Previously: When The Whistle Blows

They Tried To Blame Maurice For Everything

Rollingnews

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The cost of motor insurance.

It’s been soaring.

Yesterday, during a Dáil debate about the trend, Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly said the following:

We all know the overall figures. More than one third of Irish drivers have seen the cost of their insurance increase by more than 50% in the past year. We could all tell our own individual horror stories. It has gone beyond being a rip-off at this stage.

Last week, a father contacted me about his son who paid €2,400 for his first insurance cover. His renewal quote was €3,100, which was then withdrawn, allegedly because he had changed from working in retail to being a labourer. They contacted the Ombudsman who told them to shop around, which they did, but the nearest quote was €6,500.

This car is registered for social, domestic and pleasure purposes. It is not used for his job. The situation is utterly ridiculous. The young man ended up changing jobs because he needed a car but could not pay the cost of the insurance.

The reality is that the increases being imposed are leading people to drive with reduced cover, which is very concerning, or to the imposition of severe economic hardship. It is simply unacceptable.

We know AA studies and so forth have blamed fraudulent activity and high costs in legal claims. However, they fail to mention the profiteering of insurance companies. This is the nub of the issue.

I support the Fianna Fáil measure calling for a national database to record premiums and settlements. This can be done anonymously and would help provide some transparency. The truth, however, is that there is no reason for the current situation whatsoever and the only credible explanation is that a cartel is operating for profit.

For example, in the modern era of new technologies, the use of dash cams can be implemented. A dash cam can record footage which could be used as evidence in the event of a traffic incident. They can record speeds through GPS tracking and issue proximity warnings, for example, when changing lanes.

The encouragement of the use of this type of technology has the potential to massively simplify the insurance process. Do the insurance companies want it? We can bet they do not, because there is a cartel of insurance underwriters and companies profiting from the current situation.

I know of an insurance brokerage company which set itself up with the view to operating with dash cams in particular and using them as a mechanism to reduce premiums and simplify the claims process.

The company was taken over by a bigger insurance company and the dash cam programme has ended up in the bin. That is the real nature of the insurance business in Ireland.

Figures show that the number of collisions has declined with the implementation of these types of technology, which are already available. We could radically transform the situation. There is no need for it whatsoever and unless we get to the heart of the matter the problems will continue.

It is simply unacceptable for young people, in particular, but for other drivers as well, who, as other Deputies have said, against the backdrop of an inadequate public transport system, need their cars and should be able to drive them safely.

Transcript via Oireachtas.ie

Dáil passes FF motion on car insurance costs (RTE)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=442&v=sBFeNY6v61s

Yesterday afternoon.

In the Dáil, TDs made statements on the report of the Justice O’Higgins Commission of Investigation into allegations of malpractice made by Sgt Maurice McCabe.

This is what Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly said…

The real story of the O’Higgins report can be summed up by saying that Sergeant Maurice McCabe was right. This is essentially what Mr. Justice O’Higgins was able to establish although almost a decade of Garda reports have stated the opposite. Even that statement alone says a great deal.

A person would not have gathered that if she had listened to the coverage given by RTE’s Paul Reynolds two weeks ago, following which anyone would have thought the O’Higgins report was entirely different altogether.

We have been visited by the ghost of Ministers past pulling the Taoiseach’s hands. This has happened in the form of the former Minister, Mr. Shatter, bleating that he has been exonerated by these proceedings. That is utterly ludicrous.

The former Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, and the former Minister, Mr. Shatter, were not exonerated by this commission. In fact, they were bit players, nothing more than a sideshow. They are referred to in 30 pages out of 370.

The only matter dealing with the former Garda Commissioner was a complaint which happened to be taken under the Garda Síochána Confidential Reporting of Corruption or Malpractice Regulations.

The complaint was that he misused his position with the inappropriate appointment of an officer. He was exonerated for that. That was the only point under investigation.

The former Minister, Mr. Shatter, seems to be taking great comfort from the O’Higgins report statement that he was within his rights to rely on the reports of the Commissioner and internal Garda investigations.

However, I put it to Mr. Shatter that being within his rights and being right are two very different things. In fact, the former Minister, Mr. Shatter, was wrong. His conclusion that there was nothing to see here was not the right answer. There was plenty to see but he chose not to look at it.

Overwhelmingly, the O’Higgins report is an appalling account of lawlessness, indiscipline, perjury, incompetence and laziness inside An Garda Síochána in Cavan and Monaghan.

Certain behaviour which was never disciplined caused enormous consequences to the victims of crime. Were it not for the timely intervention of Sergeant Maurice McCabe, in many instances that behaviour would have led to cases being statute-barred.

When I read the report I was reminded of the first time I met Sergeant Maurice McCabe over five years ago. The Minister has seen Sergeant McCabe. He is an incredibly mild-mannered gentleman.

He told the stories of being a sergeant in that district and trying to deal with the type of indiscipline that has been revealed so well in the O’Higgins report. He was laughed at, mocked and ridiculed.

There is mention in the O’Higgins report of a campaign on social media about Maurice the rat. I remembered that and I looked up the pictures, some of which I have before me – the Minister may wish to look at them.

The pictures are of gardaí off duty in a pub with pints doing what they would like to do with Maurice the rat, which is a plastic rat. It is quite inappropriate for me even to mention it, but the Minister can imagine what they are doing to the rat.

These are gardaí.

When I read the report I was reminded of these people. How many of the people in these photographs are among the named gardaí in the reports? I do not know but I imagine some of them are. I found the whole thing sickening. More shocking is the fact that ten years down the road these people have learned nothing.

In case after case before Mr. Justice O’Higgins, he repeatedly rejected the evidence of sworn gardaí in the course of the tribunal, while lavishing praise on the victims of crime, including, for example, Majella Cafolla, whose word was taken over the word of Garda Kelly and Garda McCarthy; the word of the victim and her father in the Cootehill assault case taken over the word of Garda Martin; and the rejection of the evidence of Garda O’Sullivan who tried to blame Sergeant Maurice McCabe for Mary Lynch not being told about the court case or Garda Killian who tried to hold him responsible for the taking of the computer. It goes on.

Does it not strike the Minister that these are people who go into courts every day of the week and give evidence before judges about cases, prosecutions and so on on behalf of the State? This is indeed an appalling vista and shame on those individuals.

They absolutely have to take account of their actions but on one level could they be blamed when the attitude that perjury is okay is being set at the very top of An Garda Síochána? Unless that is dealt with, we will never reform the force as we know it.

The corporate cover-up will continue as will the blue wall of silence. The culture has to be changed. The biggest problem with the O’Higgins report is that there is an almighty chasm after his findings, which are very clear, and then nothing. Nobody will be held accountable for any of this and we are left with an incredible feeling of not being satisfied by it.

One of the linchpins is the Byrne-McGinn report. O’Higgins makes many references to it, saying it was a considerable understatement, it was inaccurate, and the gravity of the issues was not addressed in the report. He found it difficult to understand and surprising.

In multiple reports, he found that Byrne and McGinn, at the highest echelons of An Garda Síochána, missed the key point in the complaint. In the one on the Lakeside Hotel assault, they did not deal at all with the unacceptable method of investigation used by the garda who tried to trick the suspect.

He found it strange that they expressed the view that the CCTV was delayed when there was no CCTV involved at all. He found it surprising that they did not question Superintendent Clancy on why there was no ID parade.

In respect of the Crossans pub assault, he says that Byrne and McGinn said the complaints were largely unfounded when in fact they were largely justified, but he leaves it there.

This was a pivotal moment for Sergeant Maurice McCabe, the first time he had taken his complaints to the hierarchy of An Garda Síochána who did not uphold them and tried to blame him. These are complaints that O’Higgins says were largely upheld.

To make matters worse, their report was sent to Deputy Commissioner Rice who said Byrne and McGinn were professional and impartial and carried out their work with propriety. He said Commissioner Callinan agreed with him.

Back at the base in Cavan-Monaghan, where the boys went out drinking and put up a picture of Maurice the rat, Chief Superintendent Rooney put a notice on the notice board about the confidential revelations of Sergeant McCabe, saying that it was found that there were no systemic failures identified in the management and there was no evidence to substantiate alleged breaches of procedure, that the findings of Assistant Commissioner Byrne vindicated the high standards and professionalism in the district.

Then he thanked them all and their families for the very difficult time they had been put through over these terrible revelations. All of these people were wrong and many of them are still serving officers.

What they did to Maurice McCabe would have floored a weaker man. I do not accept that no one should be called to account for that. It is not good enough for Mr. Justice O’Higgins to say it was okay for the Minister for Justice and Equality to rely on what he clearly says are flawed reports.

That is not good enough because in that type of approach nobody is held accountable and if nobody is accountable, bad practice continues. That is precisely why we are in the mess we are in today because, correctly, pressure over policing issues led to the departure of the Minister’s predecessor and the former Commissioner.

Now the dogs on the street know what we have been telling her for two years: nothing has changed. It has just been an illusion.

As Deputy Wallace said, we have come in here 18 times over the past two years and given the Minister detailed specific information about the horror being endured by current Garda whistleblowers, not to mind the written questions we have tabled to her, and she has done nothing.

She said in her speech that she never again wants to see the situation that Maurice McCabe was in, but that situation is here now. It has been here for the other people and she knows it. She referred to a sea change. There is no sea change.

Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to Garda Keith Harrison. We are being told there is a new dawn here, that everything will be great for these whistleblowers. It is not great for them and the legislation the Minister lauds is not fit for purpose. GSOC is incapable of playing the role of Garda confidential recipient.

Garda Harrison went to GSOC first on 13 September 2014. He met Simon O’Brien, who was still around at that time and who took the complaints very seriously. He came back in November and said that if a scintilla of what Garda Keith Harrison said was true, it was a very serious complaint. He put two officers in charge of it, but Garda Harrison heard nothing until April 2015 after Deputy Wallace raised the issues in here – I know Simon O’Brien departed but it is a big organisation.

That man has been through hell, even to the point of taking a legal action to stop the Garda invoking a disciplinary procedure taken 14 months after an alleged complaint against him was closed.

The State defended that action for almost a year before the courts, at what cost, until Christmas. Now Garda Harrison is off the payroll.

The Bill is not fit for purpose. Garda Nicky Keogh made allegations of gardaí being involved in the drugs trade. His papers have been with GSOC and the time for the protocols for that information being handed over by the Garda expired approximately three months ago.

The Garda has not furnished the papers to GSOC. It is an organisation that cannot deal with this area.

The Taoiseach talked about the independent review mechanism as a barometer of change, that it made recommendations in 300 cases. Apart from 20, the recommendation was that no action be taken.

That is not a great harbinger of things changing. To pretend that the new Policing Authority is dealing with all of this is a sleight of hand because the new authority was deliberately constituted and watered down to prevent the type of independent oversight that is necessary.

The Minister is legally the only person who can sort this out. The power rests with her and it will be her legacy if she does not take up what is in front of her on this. It is way past the time for the Commissioner to go. Her statement today was an utter insult.

It was very cleverly worded, stating counsel was not “instructed to impugn the integrity of Sergeant Maurice McCabe”. Funnily enough, they were the words used by Mr. Colm Smyth. The Chinese wall between his credibility and his motivation is utter rubbish, as other Deputies have said.

The testimony of other people at the commission is that it was quite adversarial and that Sergeant Maurice McCabe was being put on trial. Does the Commissioner really expect us to believe that putting out a statement saying that GSOC will look into the conduct of these two senior officers will kill this story?

These two serving officers were prepared to give false testimony on the record to discredit Maurice McCabe and the idea that Commissioner O’Sullivan, who was aware of this fact on day three of the commission, almost a year ago, did nothing about it until it became a major story is reason enough for her to go.

She is trying to tell us that the two officers were flying solo and she did not know anything about it. If she did not know about it at the start of the commission, she did know about it on days three and four.

If she did not know about it and these are solo runs, has she initiated a complaint to the Law Society about the conduct of Mr. Colm Smyth because he was quite clear that he was instructed to undermine the credibility and motivation of Maurice McCabe?

Of course she has not done that because the strategy could not have happened without her involvement, and the Minister legally is the only person who can deal with this.

Public trust is and has been broken for many around the country and this report has reopened many wounds. A retired garda in my constituency has been in contact with the Minister.

He was one of the investigating officers in the Baiba Saulite case involving a young woman who was murdered and he alleges, very much like Maurice McCabe, that if police work had been done properly previously, that young woman would not have died.

Many have been the victims of crime in the same situation. There are enormous systemic problems in An Garda Síochána and those in the last Government did not address them.

It now has a very limited window in terms of how it can respond. Deputy O’Brien said the Minister should have a stark conversation with the Commissioner. It is well past time for that.

I strongly recommend that the Minister initiate the legislative powers she has to investigate the behaviour of the Commissioner and that she releases the transcripts, which she has now that the commission has been dissolved, in order to clarify this matter which is the subject of significant public debate. There can be no reform or moving on without it.

The victims in Cavan and Monaghan for whom she has expressed her sympathy and the heroic efforts of Maurice McCabe and John Wilson, who has been in the Gallery for the entire debate, will not be remembered or properly recognised unless we take the necessary steps forward.

The Minister has been warned about this for the past two years, but the clock is ticking and there is very little time left.

Previously: Dissent Is Very Much Disloyalty Under Nóirín’s Watch

Transcript via Oireachtas.ie

Meanwhile…

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Last night.

Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan leaves government buildings after meeting the Taoiseach over the recent spate of Dublin gangland killings.

Eamonn Farrell/Rollingnews

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From top: Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald at the launch of ‘joint agency response to crime’ strategy last November; Clare Daly

Independents 4 Change TD Clare Daly spoke to Audrey Carville on RTÉ’s News At One this lunchtime.

The interview came after Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan released a statement at midday, saying, “I can confirm that An Garda Síochána’s legal team was not at any stage instructed to impugn the integrity of Sergeant Maurice McCabe or to make a case that he was acting maliciously.”

Grab a tay…

Audrey Carville: “Just to repeat, Nóirín O’Sullivan states, ‘I can confirm that An Garda Siochana’s legal team was not, at any stage, instructed to impugn the integrity of Sergeant Maurice McCabe or to make a case that he was acting maliciously. We’re joined now by Independent socialist TD Clare Daly. Clare Daly, thanks for joining us, do you believe the Commissioner when she says that?”

Clare Daly: “I think she’s saying very little. I think, if you read it carefully, her statement is very well put together. She’s selecting the word, ‘integrity’ which of course, we know from the leaked transcript, was exactly the expression used by her senior counsel Colm Smyth in November [2015] when he said the integrity bit was his words but she’s very silent on the allegations which were upheld that they were instructed to question the credibility and motivation of Maurice McCabe. And I think while she says and we can take it maybe, in some sense, they had to cross examine the evidence of everybody including Maurice McCabe, and I think everybody would accept that but this wasn’t about cross examining the evidence, this was about questioning his motivation, his credibility and having two senior officers prepared to give false testimony to back that up. And those allegations are still unanswered.”

Carville: “But isn’t she right though? In relation to the documents that have been leaked, she calls it the selected information purporting to relate to these proceedings out into the public domain, the transcripts of no more than three minutes of what happened at a Commission which ran for 34 10-hour days.”

Daly: “I think it’s interesting that she did choose to focus on that and says they’re selective but she doesn’t say they’re not true and they’re very comprehensive in their entirety of what they’re claiming and the claim hasn’t been denied anywhere – that Garda authorities instructed their legal team to basically go in and give false testimony to mislead the Commission as regards the credibility and motivation of Maurice McCabe…”

Carville: “How do you know that though? You can’t say that for certain.”

Daly: “I can say that for certain. And nobody disputed it any where, including the Garda Commissioner. To say that the evidence that was leaked is not valid or that it’s only part of the story – that’s not the case. It’s a very comprehensive transcript which stands up in its own ground and that added to other testimony that I’m absolutely aware of that the Garda legal team adopted an incredibly adversarial approach to Maurice McCabe where it was repeatedly stated at the Commission that he was, in effect, being put on trial – that treatment was not given to anybody else. I think it’s interesting that the Commissioner says she’s now asked the minister to investigate the matter of the two senior officers but the reality is is that this claim, with these two officers, was made over a year ago and it was only withdrawn last November – just before, on the eve if you like, of Noirin O’Sullivan herself giving evidence to the Commission. But if that information was out there, which it was, why hasn’t she, as the Garda Commissioner, already investigated that matter and why is she doing it now that it’s in the public domain because she’s aware of it.”

Carville: “Do you welcome though that it has gone to GSOC to investigate?”

Daly: “I think sadly GSOC are not equipped to deal with these matters adequately, it’s interesting that she talks again about dissent not being disloyalty for the current Garda whistleblowers whose cases are before GSOC. They haven’t been able to get a proper hearing and dissent is very much disloyalty under Noirin O’Sullivan’s watch as far as they’re concerned. So I don’t think GSOC are adequately equipped to deal with this. I’m glad somebody is investigating but to be honest with you, the real answers have to come from the Minister for Justice [Frances Fitzgerald] who, in legislation, ultimately is accountable for the behaviour of the Commissioner and I don’t think she’s accounted for her actions adequately. I think this is a longer statement basically saying what she did the last time and hiding behind confidentiality and legal points which have not been validated by any independent source again talking about Section 11 of the Commission of Investigation which is factually incorrect because that simply deals with evidence and the information here is not evidence, it’s a legal position being put forward.”

Carville: “But if there was a position, if there is an implicit admission in this statement that perhaps Sgt McCabe’s motivation and credibility were to be challenged, before the Commission, isn’t that fair enough because, as she says, the Gardai were being subjected to the most serious of allegations, from Maurice McCabe. So, in any court, isn’t the person making the allegations cross examined to the fullest?”

Daly: “I’d be fully in favour of evidence being cross examined and indeed motivation can be but that’s entirely different to senior garda officers, in order to substantiate that, being prepared to give false evidence to the Commission. And that big, giant elephant is still in the room because that is a fact that has been undisputed and we need answers on that because that evidence was apparent to the Commissioner as late as a year ago and nothing has been done on it. Now we’re being told she is going to do something on it, or asked the minister, that’s not good enough for the head of An Garda Siochana. We’re talking about, in essence, perjury to a sworn commission. It’s highly serious.”

Carville: “But we don’t know exactly what those two senior Garda were prepared to do because it hasn’t made it in to the final report. And it’s not really dealt with in any of the leaked documents either.”

Daly: “And it is very much out there in the public domain, that the Garda Commissioner’s statement hasn’t answered it, and we need very clear answers on it, I mean I’d like to know, for example, why is Noirin O’Sullivan only acting on it now?”

Carville: “But it’s only a suspicion, Clare Daly, about what the two senior officers did. And she is now referring it to GSOC to be investigated.”

Daly: “The people who were at the Commission are very clear on what the two officers said, very, very clear and there were quite a number of people at that Commission and I honestly believe the truth will out and I’m perfectly satisfied and safe, if you like, in saying that they were prepared to give evidence to mislead and only withdrew that when taped evidence was produced by Maurice McCabe to say what they had said was not true. That was the trigger that led to it being withdrawn. This man could have been ruined had be not had that tape recording.”

Carville: “Yeah, well, the matter is gone now to GSOC to investigate that and, as I say, it’s not fully clear from Mr O’Higgins’ commission that was indeed the case. Some people have said that it is time to draw a line under this. That nothing good can come from repeatedly going over this same situation in relation to Maurice McCabe, what do you say to that?”

Daly: “I think we can’t move forward until we honestly deal with what has happened. And I think we have repeatedly made the point that since the exit of Commissioner [Martin] Callinan and Minister [for Justice, Alan] Shatter, unfortunately, under the watch of Noirin O’Sullivan, and Frances Fitzgerald, the same very bad practice regarding the vilification of whistleblowers has continued and there’s nothing new in that and we know that from the treatment of Keith Harrison and Nick Keogh, current Garda whistleblowers, whose dissent has been very much treated as disloyalty. These people are out of work sick, they’ve been vilified, demonised, their life has been made an absolute hell – all on Noirin O’Sullivan’s watch…”

Later

Carville: “Thank you very much indeed, Independent socialist TD Clare Daly. And just to reiterate that no allegations have been proven against two senior gardai, that they deliberately misled the O’Higgins commission.”

Listen back in full here

Previously: Nóirín Speaks

Rollingnews

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Hmmm.

Meanwhile, in yesterday’s Irish Independent…

A leak about leaks written by man who got leak.

Paul Williams reported:

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….

Garda cleared of leaking TD arrest details (Irish Independent)

Previously: The Daly What

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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 of his 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.”

Transcript via Oireachtas.ie

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From top: Results of a Red C poll; Independent TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly (centre), with Dr John Lannon (left) and Ed Horgan (right), of Shannonwatch at a press conference in Buswells Hotel, Dublin earlier today 

Independent TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly released the results of a Red C poll earlier today, which show over half the population don’t agree with Ireland’s current military relationship with the United States – which uses Shannon Airport to refuel.

Some 55% of those polled say they don’t believe that the Irish Government should allow the US to use the Limerick airport for military purposes.

Mr Wallace and Ms Daly held a press conference earlier today with Dr John Lannon and Ed Horgan, of Shannonwatch, at the Buswells Hotel, Dublin, to discuss the poll’s results.

Clare Daly said:

“A country with a policy of positive neutrality would not facilitate the massive, devastating displacement of tens of millions of people through wars whose only purpose is to keep the gears of the military-industrial complex oiled.”

“It would not find itself in a state of absolute moral abjection when it agreed to accept only the tiniest fraction of those made homeless and stateless by wars it had abetted. We need to put meat on the bones of our neutrality, to actively and vigorously work against war and destruction, against the arms trade, against the absolute devastation of so many lives in pursuit of imperial power and wealth?”

“Until we enshrine a policy of neutrality in our Constitution, and make it so that our neutrality is something that is real, positive, and active, we cannot and will not play that role”.

Mick Wallace said:

“Since 2001, the US Military and their allies have been responsible for the deaths of over 2 million citizens in Afghanistan and Iraq alone. Mindless destruction of the Middle East region & beyond has seen the displacement of over 30 million people and an unprecedented refugee crisis in Europe today.

“It’s long past time that Ireland stopped facilitating this horror by refusing to allow Shannon Airport to be used for any military purposes. We need a change of direction – It should start with the new Government. It’s time for Ireland to work for peace, not war.”

Ed Horgan of Shannonwatch said:

“Shannon airport has been used, or misused by the US military, with the approval of successive Irish Government’s since October 2001. In the meantime over three million armed US troops have transited through Shannon on their way to and from wars and military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere.”

“In addition US military aircraft have transported unknown quantities of munitions and other war materials through Shannon airport but the Irish Government has been repeatedly denying that these aircraft are carrying weapons and munitions. Irish neutrality needs to be urgently restored to prevent Irish complicity in crimes against humanity”.

Dr John Lannon of the University of Limerick and Shannonwatch, said:

“Ireland’s failure to uphold national and international law at Shannon is shameful. The routine transit of armed troops to and from war zones is in contravention of the Hague Convention on Neutrality.”

“The authorities have failed in their responsibilities under the Convention Against Torture by not investigating rendition planes at Shannon. And they also turn a blind eye to the fact that the US military aircraft landing at Shannon are likely to be carrying people who are guilty of war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Under the principle of international jurisdiction, these should be investigated and prosecuted.”

Earlier: Five Years

Previously: For The Record

Pic: Ailbhe Conneely

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Clare Daly responded to the Government’s Spin Spring Economic Statement on Tuesday.

Grab a tay.

She said:

“I thank the Government for introducing me to a brand new emotion, which is a kind of combination of, on the one hand, being incredibly underwhelmed and, at the same time, offended by the fanfare that is scheduled for this week. That fanfare displays an arrogance that is becoming increasingly a hallmark of this Government. While it has scheduled yet another backslappers’ convention for us to have to endure, real issues that were touched on this morning, such as the scandal of Siteserv, goings-on at IBRC, the contract for installing water meters, the list of private bodies benefiting from those contracts and the whole Irish Water diaspora debacle, are ignored. It is head-spinning stuff.”

“All the big names are there, including KPMG, Arthur Cox, the Davy Group, Ernst & Young, Denis O’Brien and the usual roll-out of consultants, advisers and middle men. We are not being given a chance to discuss any of that. Even the Government’s own backbenchers are embarrassed by what is happening today. In fact, none of them has been present for the jamboree. It seems even they are a bit scarlet to have to sit through it. This whole thing really exposes how utterly out of touch the Government is with the real lives of citizens. I will bring Ministers back to earth by reading a letter I received last weekend from a person in Cavan. He wrote:”

Hi Clare,

Just to keep you up to touch with things, I’m starting back to work again after three years of really tough times. I have spent €6,000 of my own money trying to retrain and get back to work. I received no assistance from the system. Absolutely soul-destroying stuff. Three weeks ago I became a member of a very special group, the group that comes under the title of ghosters. Now, the ghosters are the group of citizens that have reached the point where the welfare system says “No more, your wife is working, so you don’t qualify for any payment at all.” For the first time in 43 years, I had no income whatsoever. That’s a situation I never, ever want to be in again, nor did I in the first place. The sense of embarrassment, shame and complete loss of self-esteem is indescribable. I never thought, even after being made redundant three years ago, that I’d be out for so long. I really believed that I’d be back at work in a couple of months at most, but that wasn’t to be. The rest, as they say, is history.

Two weeks ago, I was standing on a bridge here in Ballyconnell looking into a very fast-flowing river and deciding if I’d end it. Two things prevented that from happening. Number one, I looked in and I asked who’d feed my dog. Number two, I want to see Enda Kenny and co. get their comeuppance. In fact, I want to play my part in it. My vote counts. I count, somewhere in the overall picture of things. Now isn’t that scary? But the real scary thing is that there are thousands more like me. They need help, real help, not just a lip service from some pompous git in a suit, shirt and tie telling them that we are in recovery. Recovery for whom? The Denis O’Briens of this world? Greed-motivated buggers who care only for the quick buck at everybody’s expense?

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