Tag Archives: Maurice McCabe

Screen Shot 2016-05-17 at 22.14.07

RTÉ crime correspondent Paul Reynolds on RTÉ’s Six One earlier this evening

Earlier this evening.

RTÉ crime correspondent Paul Reynolds reported that he obtained new documents in relation to the exchanges between Garda Commissioner’s senior counsel Colm Smyth and Judge Kevin O’Higgins during the Commission of Investigation into Sgt Maurice McCabe’s complaints.

Mr Reynolds reported that the documents show Mr Smyth told the judge he was instructed, by the Commissioner, to challenge the ‘motivation and credibility’ of Sgt Maurice McCabe.

This, Mr Reynolds reported, was because Ms O’Sullivan had to consider the welfare of all of the gardai not just Sgt McCabe.

Grab a tay.

Mary Wilson: “Paul Reynolds, what’s going on?”

Paul Reynolds: “Well. OK. This controversy began last week when it was reported that the Garda Commissioner’s legal team was going to claim that Sgt Maurice McCabe was motivated by malice. This was in marked contrast to the Commissioner’s public statements in support of the Garda whistleblower.”

“Now we have seen documents today which show that, early in the Commission’s hearings, the Commissioner’s senior counsel said that, quote, his instructions from the Commissioner were to challenge the integrity of Sgt Maurice McCabe. Now the judge put that issue to one side, so if you can think of that as an earlier hearing.”

Wilson: “OK.”

Reynolds: “And that was brought up later in the proceedings in the hearings of the Commission. In fact, just before the Garda Commissioner was due to give evidence. Now. The Garda Commissioner came in to give evidence and the judge sought clarification on this issue.”

“Now the Commissioner’s senior counsel then told Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins that, quote, my instructions at all times were to challenge the motivation and credibility of Sgt Maurice McCabe.”

“Senior counsel Colm Smyth also said that it was on an error on my part when he said, earlier, that his instructions had been to challenge the integrity of Sgt McCabe.

“So he said that he made a mistake at the earlier hearing when he said he was challenging his integrity. But he said they were going to challenge Sgt McCabe’s motivation and credibility.”

“But, specifically, they were going to challenge his motivation and credibility in relation to his allegations of corruption and malpractice. Now you know that, sorry, we know that Sgt McCabe made serious allegations of corruption against five senior officers including the former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.”

“So, the Garda Commissioner’s legal team was going to challenge his motivation and credibility in relation to this. Senior counsel for the Garda Commissioner told the judge that Sgt McCabe had, quote, alleged corruption on the grand scale against the five senior officers and that he had been invited to withdraw the allegations of corruption against Martin Callinan but he had refused to do so.”

“Now, as we know, the commission’s report came out last week and found there was no evidence to substantiate any of the allegations of corruption against any of the gardaí and not a scintilla of evidence to support Sgt McCabe’s allegations of corruption against the Commissioner.”

“So the Garda Commissioner’s senior counsel also pointed out the reason why he was challenging the motivation and credibility of Sgt McCabe on these points, he said he was doing this on behalf of Nóirín O’Sullivan because she had to consider the welfare of all of the gardai not just Sgt McCabe. She had a concern for his welfare and his concerns, but she also had a concern for the other officers, the other officers against whom the allegations were made. They were also under her control and, quote, that she had to hold the balance.”

Wilson: “Ok, a lot of detail there, Paul, if we pick our way through it, I take it you’ve had sight of certain material. We know that other material that other reporters had sight of has made its way into the newspapers.”

“At this stage, without challenging the rights and wrongs of either sets of documents that you’ve all seen and what they say or don’t say, how is this going to be all cleared up, once and for all? Does it require the commission chairman to come out and make a clear statement?”

“Because we’re talking here, not about the evidence, if I’m correct, but about the case that’s being set out by the lawyers. A lawyer would come into a courtroom or before a commission and say, the case I’m going to make is this, they set out their stall.”

“So does it require the commission chairman to make a statement, to clarify it for once and for all, or does it require the lawyers to come out and clarify for once and for all about what went on?”

Reynolds: “Well, these documents are essentially clarification documents and they do tend to clarify it because if you look, just to go further, in relation to that allegation of malice – and that’s the one that’s been subsuming people and politicians over the last week – Colm Smyth, the senior counsel for the Garda Commissioner told the judge that the Commissioner never claimed that Sgt McCabe was motivated by malice and he said, ‘I never used the words mala fides’. He said, ‘those were the words that in the first instance came from Mr McDowell’, that’s Michael McDowell, senior counsel who was representing Maurice McCabe, his legal representative.”

“He also said that the word ‘malice’ was introduced, or the words mala fides were introduced by yourself, the judge, in interpreting what my instructions were. So he said that the Garda, that he never used the word malice or mala fides and neither did…he never used them on behalf of the Commissioner, the words were used by the judge and by Michael McDowell, who was representing Maurice McCabe.”

Wilson: “But then, sorry, Paul, just to be clear. Colm Smyth we’re talking about here, the senior counsel, what was he going in to clarify when he went back before the commission then?”

Reynolds: “You see what happened was, at this later hearing, the judge read a transcript to Colm Smyth from the earlier hearing. And at the earlier hearing the word ‘malice’ was used twice by the judge when he put the transcript, the earlier transcript to the senior counsel, and the senior counsel.”

“And the senior counsel in the transcript of the earlier hearing replied, ‘so be it, that is the position judge’. However the issue had been left to one side so this later hearing clarifies that when the judge reads the transcript back to Colm Smyth and he says, the senior counsel on behalf of the Garda Commissioner, he clarifies this by saying, ‘I never used the words mala fides’ and after he clarifies it, the senior counsel for the Commission, Sean Gillane stands up and says, ‘let me clarify this’ and he says, quote, “no case was being made that Sgt McCabe either lacks integrity or acted mala fides in bringing his complaints”.”

Wilson: “OK”

Reynolds: “So he clarifies it and the judge accepts this and he says, oh, this clarifies the position, and the judge’s final word in the exchange is, ‘good, well that is clarified’ so the judge accepts the bona fides of Colm Smyth acting on behalf of the Garda Commissioner and accepts the clarification and Noirin O’Sullivan then gives her evidence.”

Right so.

Listen back in full here

Previously: No Absence Of Malice

UPDATE:

Screen Shot 2016-05-17 at 23.28.20

Katie Hannon and David McCullagh on RTÉ’s Prime Time tonight

Meanwhile, also earlier tonight, journalist Katie Hannon revealed sections of transcripts from the O’Higgins Commission of Investigation in May and November, on RTÉ’s Prime Time.

The following are the sections reported by Ms Hannon:

Colm Smyth SC: “I have instructions from the Commissioner, Judge. This is an inquiry dealing with allegations of malpractice and corruption on a grand scale by members of An Garda Siochana.”

Judge Kevin O’Higgins: “No. This part of the inquiry…”

Smyth: “I appreciate that but my instructions are to challenge the integrity of Sgt McCabe and his motivation.”

O’Higgins: “The integrity?”

Smyth: “His motivation and his credibility in mounting these allegations of corruption and malpractice.”

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.”

O’Higgins: “…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 acting on instructions.

Later

O’Higgins: “But you are attacking his motivation and you are attacking his integrity?”

Smyth: “Right the way through.”

O’Higgins: “Full stop.”

Smyth: “Yes. Full stop.”

Later

Smyth: “My instructions are reconfirmed.”

O’Higgins: “Very good. Your instructions as I understand them are that Sgt McCabe acted as he did for improper motives.”

Smyth: “Yeah.”

O’Higgins: “Okay and that his integrity is being challenged in that respect.”

Smyth: “In that respect.”

O’Higgins: “Okay, fine. So be it.”

Later in November, on the day Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan is due to give evidence – by which time Sgt McCabe had produced a transcript of his meeting in Mullingar with two gardaí

Smyth: “As far as the Commissioner was concerned at all stages I had instructions to challenge Sgt McCabe in relation to motivation and credibility.”

O’Higgins: “And integrity?”

Smyth: “No. There was no mention of integrity.”

Later

Smyth: “…that is an error on my part.”

O’Higgins: “Well that is the clarification I sought. So the position now is that his motive is under attack, credibility is under attack from the Commissioner. But not his integrity.”

Smyth: “Just to be clear about it. The credibility in so far as he made these allegations of corruption and malpractice. There is no question about that.”

Later

Smyth: “Judge, the Commissioner has a duty of care to all members. She wasn’t acquiescing. She has to hold the balance between, on the one part she has Sgt McCabe who she has a concern for and his welfare and on the other hand she has a concern for the Superintendents who are under her control. She has to hold the balance. She cannot come down on the side of Sgt McCabe and say I agree with everything he says without challenge.”

Watch Prime Time back in full here

Screen Shot 2016-05-17 at 15.35.29

From top: Mary Lynch on Claire Byrne Live last night and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald in the Dáil this afternoon

This afternoon.

Tánaiste and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald fielded questions from Sinn Féin TD Jonathan O’Brien further to the reports that Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan’s senior counsel told the O’Higgins Commission of Investigation into Sgt Maurice McCabe’s complaints – that McCabe told two officers he was acting out of malice.

The allegation was proven to be false after Sgt McCabe produced a recording of his conversation with the two Gardai – and the matter wasn’t included in the final report.

Before Ms Fitzgerald took questions from Mr O’Brien, she mentioned the victims whose experiences were looked at by the O’Higgins commission – including that of taxi driver Mary Lynch who appeared on last night’s Claire Byrne Live on RTE One.

However, Ms Fitzgerald called her by the wrong name.

Ms Lynch was viciously assaulted by Jerry McGrath who was released on bail before Ms Lynch had made a statement. McGrath went on to attempt to abduct a five-year-old girl and received bail again. He then went on to kill Sylvia Roche Kelly.

Ms Fitzgerald said:

“It is disheartening to read of the experiences of victims. We saw Mary Lyons [sic] last night on RTE and we can see the horror that was visited upon her and indeed other victims.”

Following questions from Mr O’Brien, Ms Fitzgerald said:

Frances Fitzgerald: “I believe we shouldn’t lose sight of the central fact that at the heart of the report are the victims who were let down. I think that’s a very key point for all of us to note. And I think our central focus should be on doing everything possible to make sure what is outlined in those investigations doesn’t happen again.”

“There are severe constraints on what I can say about claims that have appeared in the media, under the Commission of Investigation Act of 2004, which formed the legal basis for putting the commission in place.”

“And I have a duty to respect the law and that duty is not diminished by the fact that some media reports have appeared, you know, purporting to set out a small part of what may or may not have been said.”

“I would obviously refer to the statement from Garda Commission Noirin O’Sullivan where she comments on her response to the report and says that she accepts it in full and has put as much information into the public domain as she can do – saying that she’s legally precluded under Section 11, saying any further and I would just reiterate what she said in relation to Sgt Maurice McCabe’s contribution – that it is valued and that the service is changed for the better in response to the points and the issues about which he complained.”

Jonathan O’Brien: “Thank you, minister. Minister the statement last night of clarity actually clarifies nothing in my opinion. And I think there is an issue here which needs to be clarified. Because we have a situation where we have media reports stating that they’ve seen documentation which alleges that the Garda Commissioner instructed her legal team to insinuate malice on behalf of Sgt McCabe. Now if that is the case then somebody, in my opinion, calls into question her credibility. Because is she saying one thing in public and another thing in private to her legal team, then there’s an issue. Now, the other scenario is that this documentation may not be legitimate and if that’s the case then you have a situation where somebody close to the Commission, more than likely close to the Commission has passed on documentation knowingly that is not factual and one can only presume that somebody would do that to undermine the Garda Commissioner herself…”

Meanwhile, from RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live last night – after Ms Lynch recalled how she was attacked and how the gardaí handled her case…

Claire Byrne: “Has anyone contacted you – this Garda Commissioner, Noirin O’Sullivan? The previous Garda Commissioner Callinan?”

Mary Lynch: “No.”

Byrne: “This minister for justice, Frances Fitzgerald?”

Lynch: “No. Nobody.”

Byrne: “Minister Shatter before her?”

Lynch: “No, and I’d love to talk to some of them. I would love to talk to both of them actually. I’d like to know why nobody has been made accountable for what happened. Nobody like. Everybody walks away with their hands clean.”

Watch Claire Byrne Live back in full here

Screen Shot 2016-05-17 at 11.28.47

Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman Niall Collins

You may recall how, in February 2014, Fianna Fáil Niall Collins read into the Dáil record a section of the transcript of a 2012 conversation between Sgt Maurice McCabe and the then Garda Confidential Recipient Oliver Connolly.

The section included the following:

“Maurice, and this is just personal advice to you, if Shatter thinks you’re screwing him, you’re finished…If stuff is to get into print, broadcast media, it becomes public before the court and not any other way. If Shatter thinks it’s you, or if he thinks that it is told by the Commissioner or the gardaí, here’s this guy again trying another route to put you under pressure, he’ll go after you.”

Broadsheet later printed the transcript in full.

In relation to the transcript, Justice Kevin O’Higgins found that Mr Shatter “adamantly repudiated” the allegations and that “His [Shatter’s] denials were unchallenged and uncontradicted, and are unreservedly accepted by this commission”.

Months later, in a speech given on October 3 2014, Mr Collins said:

The problems which have manifested themselves in An Garda Síochána and GSOC and were reported to the former Minister for Justice were ignored, dismissed or glossed over in order to save the embarrassment of those in senior positions who decided that not taking responsibility was a key management skill.

This approach was a massive disservice to the ordinary members of An Garda Síochána and to the citizens of Ireland.

As a result of this dereliction of duty we have seen the resignation of the Garda Confidential Recipient, the Garda Commissioner, the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Secretary General of the Department.

We have also witnessed the establishment of an unprecedented number of Commissions of Investigation surrounding the Department of Justice and there are still more Commissions to be established.

One would hope then that lessons will be learned as to how to deal with issues arising in the Garda force and the Department of Justice from this date forward.

…The Guerin Report highlighted the fact that Sergeant Maurice McCabe was correct in his actions to highlight the failure to administrate justice in Bailieboro Garda District.

To be frank, the findings were an embarrassment for this Fine Gael Labour government who denied there was ever any issue in Justice and defended former Minister Shatter month after month. He dismissed and belittled the Whistle-blowers and was supported by the Taoiseach while doing this.

…The alleged malpractice in Bailieboro undermines the foundations of our criminal justice system. It also undermines the morale of all members of An Garda Síochána.

In order for public confidence to be restored in An Garda Síochána it is necessary to establish fully and frankly how the situation surrounding the malpractice in Cavan was allowed to occur, continue and be covered up over such a long period of time.

Further to this.

Mr Collins spoke with Seán O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio One this morning, following the release of Ms O’Sullivan’s statement last night.

From their discussion…

Niall Collins: “We can only deal with what’s written in the report, from what Judge Kevin O’Higgins has reported. And, secondly, my party leader, as you know, called for clarification from Nóirín O’Sullivan over the weekend and we received that clarification and we accept the clarification, I want to say, because Nóirín O’Sullivan is the head of An Garda Síochána and she was asked to give a clarification and she has given it and I think we either accept it or we don’t. And I think the fact that we’ve had so much discussion which is now bordering on very detailed legal argument about, you know, the difference between evidence and submissions, and the fact that the Commission held its work and holds its work in private, you know, is really, bypassing and forgetting the very central players in the whole unfortunate saga who are the victims of crime. And I think we have to keep uppermost and centre stage the impact and the failings of the system and indeed of the State on our victims of crime and if you recall, the terms of reference, which established and enabled the O’Higgins commission investigation was actually dominated – three quarters of the terms of reference were to do with named specific incidences where members of the public weren’t properly served by An Garda Síochána…”

Seán O’Rourke: “So, from what you’re saying, Niall Collins, you would appear to be satisfied with Commissioner O’Sullivan’s statement last night and that should be the end of this affair?”

Collins: “Well, I am. And I’ll tell you why. She’s the head of An Garda Siochana, she’s tasked with an exceptionally difficult job, Seán. We have a whole change agenda, a whole reform agenda and process going on within An Garda Siochana and she has presented to the Oireachtas Justice Committee on many occasions in relation to how she’s doing that. She has an exceptionally difficult job…we are constrained, as I read it, now I don’t have legal background and we have lots of people offering different legal opinion, the Commission has to do its work in private and you know persons aren’t allowed to divulge the proceedings, or indeed, the evidence…”

Previously: No Absence Of Malice

Dáil transcript: Kildarestreet.com

Rollingnews

Screen Shot 2016-05-17 at 10.24.24
Screen Shot 2016-05-17 at 10.06.08

From top: Michael Clifford, Colette Sexton and Gavan Reilly; Vincent Browne

Further to the statement Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan released last night – in which she stated:

“I want to make it clear that I do not – and have never, regarded Sergeant McCabe as malicious.”

Vincent Browne discussed the matter with his panel on TV3’s Tonight With Vincent Browne last night.

The panel included Irish Examiner journalist Michael Clifford, who last week reported that Ms O’Sullivan’s senior counsel Colm Smyth told Justice Kevin O’Higgins – during his Commission of Investigation into Sgt Maurice McCabe’s complaints – that McCabe told two officers he was acting out of malice.

The allegation was proven to be false after Sgt McCabe produced a recording of his conversation with the two Gardai – and the episode wasn’t included in the final report.

Mr Clifford reported:

The documents show that, at the commission, Mr O’Higgins asked the commissioner’s lawyer whether “you are attacking his [McCabe’s] motivation and attacking his character”.

The reply from Colm Smyth, SC, was: “Right the way through.”

He told the judge that he was acting on instructions.

This morning, Mr Clifford reported that after he received a draft of the O’Higgins report, he threatened to get an injunction against the publication of the report – because the episode wasn’t included.

Colette Sexton, of the Sunday Business Post and Gavan Reilly, of Today FM were also on the panel.

Grab a tay…

Gavan Reilly: “On the question of who was acting on whose instructions, by the way, Vincent, it’s worth bearing in mind that the senior counsel involved in this particular exchanged that formed Mick’s story on Friday. Not only were they hired and instructed by the Chief State Solicitor but they were the same legal team that represented not only Noirin O’Sullivan but the two former commissioners Fachtna Murphy and Martin Callinan and all the other members of the Gardai who were implicated by Maurice McCabe’s allegations the whole way down so…”

Talk over each other

Vincent Browne: “That makes it even more confused because it could have been somebody else that…”

Michael Clifford: “No, the counsel was specific on whose instructions he was representing.”

Browne: “On what basis are you saying, are you asserting this?”

Clifford: “I’m asserting… it was in the story on Friday. He was asked was it the Commissioner that wanted to follow this line and he said, he was operating on instructions.”

Browne: “I know but where do you get this from?”

Clifford: “It fell off the back of a lorry, I mean what do you expect me to say to that?”

Browne: “Have you two…have you, I assume that it fell, let’s assume it fell off the back of a lorry. But then did you, did you independently confirm that what fell off the back of the lorry was true?”

Clifford: “I am 100% secure and confident in the veracity of that story that was published.”

Browne: “All right, tell us about this story that you have in the Examiner tomorrow, the ‘McCabe threat to injunct inquiry report’. What’s that?”

Clifford: “This is, when the draft report, as I understand it, was released, Sgt McCabe was, as I understand it, very perturbed because he felt that it was entirely imbalanced and that one of his main issues with that was the fact that this matter was not included, at all, in the draft report. As a result of that he was minded to take a legal action, to injunct the report. We saw something similar in the Moriarty draft report, where there was a similar scenario. Now, ultimately, they didn’t do that because the costs would have been so prohibitive. But I think it just demonstrates how perturbed he was that this matter in particular, I think there may have been a few others but this was one of the main reasons…”

Browne: “Which matter are you talking about?”

Clifford: “The matter about the….”

Browne: “The malice issue, yeah.”

Clifford: “The attempt to impugn his character that this hadn’t been included in the report and I have to say, just looking at it, there’s a question there for Kevin O’Higgins. Let’s for example assume that he had, Sgt McCabe didn’t have a tape recording of that and that officers came in and said he had expressed malice, would that have been in the final report? Would it have…we’d have had a very different report, remember, completely. You’d have had a report that suggested that McCabe had brought forward these allegations on the basis of malice and therefore they had to be treated on that basis and seen in that light. That’s the kind of report you’d have had if hadn’t protected himself with a tape recording. And would have that have been included? And if so, why was it not included as it emerged here.”

Reilly: “It does raise the other question though as to whether the inquiry would have been allowed to include that, if, as you mentioned, that if it was included on the basis of arguments by lawyers and not by evidence from witnesses. That if this was something that was brought to the tribunal only by lawyers chatting among themselves really..”

Clifford: “Oh yeah but surely…”

Talk over each other

Clifford: “There’s an indication that there’s going to be evidence to that effect, and then the tape recording was produced, surely it was still incumbent to hear the evidence to see what was going to be said…”

Browne: “OK, we gotta take a break but I think, just before we go to a break, it’s fair to say that yes, questions arise, further questions arise that the Garda Commissioner has got to address but I think it’s fair to say that, given her record and given her stature and known integrity, that it’s very unlikely that she is telling a lie about a matter as central as this to the whole O’Higgins’ report.”

Watch back in full here

Previously: ‘I Have Never Regarded Sgt McCabe As Malicious’

Nóirín’s Disgust

toinettecunningham

Noirin-OSullivan

President of the Association of the Garda Sergeants and Inspector Antoinette Cunningham; and with Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan

The new president of the Association of the Garda Sergeants and Inspector Antoinette Cunningham spoke to Seán O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio One this morning.

They discussed the AGSI members’ plans to protest next week over pay and their willingness to take industrial action if needs be.

They also talked about the O’Higgins’ report, Sgt Maurice McCabe’s allegations and Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan’s allegation to the inquiry that McCabe told two officers he was acting out of malice.

The allegation was proven to be false after Sgt McCabe produced a recording of his conversation with the two Gardai.

From their discussion…

Antoinette Cunningham: “I can tell you Seán, from our conference and our mood on the ground, I can tell you that we are prepared to go as far as we have to go. Next week we have a march, we will picket the Dáil next week, as a national executive from AGSI.”

“The week after that we will move on to picket the Office of the Minister for Justice and the Taoiseach. We will do whatever it takes for us to highlight our cause around pay. It’s not a desirable position, it’s not what we want to do but I would like members of the public to understand, we don’t want to try and affect services to the public but we have to try and highlight our cause in some form and sadly this is the last one that’s left.”

Later

Seán O’Rourke: “The O’Higgins’ report published last week, looking into claims of corruption and malpractice made by your colleague, Sgt Maurice McCabe. One of the things the report did was highlighted the ill treatment he received in the force after he spoke out. Now, do you think, or do you agree with the suggestion that An Garda Siochana is a cold house for whistleblowers?”

Cunningham: “Well, first of all, I’m not going to comment on any individual, Seán. But I will comment on a general basis in relation to whistleblowing. And I think, look, organisations like An Garda Siochana, have a responsibility to ensure that people who do want to make disclosures within the organisation have a safe environment to do that. I know that the Protected Disclosures Act of 2014 brings in the guards within that and I think, you know, there shouldn’t be any fear or repercussions made by anyone who wants to report corruption or malpractice in any organisation, including An Garda Siochana.”

O’Rourke: “There was one thing which I think a lot of people were disturbed by. Now, in a sense, it’s difficult for people, particularly like the Garda Commissioner to comment because there is a restriction on what can be said or revealed about what emerges and exchanges add something to like a Commission. But nonetheless, it has emerged into the public arena that senior counsel for both the Commissioner and indeed members of the force suggested that Sgt McCabe had been acting with malice and that evidence would be brought to that effect. But then when it transpired that Sgt McCAbe had had a recording of the exchanges in which this malpractice was alleged to have been given voice to by him, that just vanished. Now does that concern you?”

Cunningham: “Well, I think, look Sean, the Commissioner has, at this stage, not commented on that so it would be remiss of me to try in any way to comment on that matter. What I would like to talk about in relation to…”

O’Rourke: “No but do you think we should know more? Or is it good enough that, and I wouldn’t accuse the Minister or the Commissioner of hiding behind a law, which is her duty to uphold, but nonetheless, would you accept that there should be some forum for clearing the air about this?”

Cunningham: “Well I think that’s a matter for the Garda Commissioner, Sean. I don’t think it’s, it would be appropriate for me to comment in relation to that.”

O’Rourke: “Is it not a matter for every citizen in this state? And you, as president of the AGSI, that such murky dealings appear to have been going on. At least that’s the suggestion, and we have to enter all sorts of caveats about this, it’s selective and we don’t know what the context is, but there appears to be a record which is the basis for this report by Michael Clifford last week in the Examiner.”

Cunningham: “Well I think if there is a murkiness or anything attached to it, Seán, that needs clarity, then it’s not for me to provide that clarity, it’s a matter for the Garda Commissioner.”

O’Rourke: “Well you could call for it thought?”

Cunningham: “Well I don’t know if it’s appropriate for an association to call for it, I think if  members of the public want to call for it, or if indeed anyone else wants to call for it, I don’t think it’s a matter for a Garda association…”

Listen back in full here

Pic: AGSI

Screen Shot 2016-05-13 at 11.03.57

Former Garda Commissioner and then Assistant Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan speaking at Public Accounts Committee in January 2014

You may recall former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan speaking at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts on January 23, 2014.

Mr Callinan made that ‘disgusting’ remark in relation to the Garda whistleblowers Sgt Maurice McCabe and John Wilson during the meeting.

Mr Callinan, who was sitting next to the then assistant Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan at the time, said:

“My position is very clear, anyone that makes any report of wrongdoing to me, I will deal with it very, very seriously indeed. And I’m sure I speak for my officers here beside me, and beyond, when I say that is the case. And we will not be isolating anybody who makes a complaint of wrongdoing against another member of the force.”

“…I will not allow anybody to be bullied or harassed or anything of that nature, intimidate, any adverb, any adjective you choose to use, that will not happen on my watch, as far as I’m concerned, if people are reporting wrongdoing. But there is a mechanism and a procedure for doing it and that shouldn’t be going off to a third party with a whole raft of very, very serious allegations, criminal and otherwise and producing those elsewhere.”

“…There isn’t a whisper anywhere else, from any other member of An Garda Siochana about this corruption, this malpractice and all of those things that are levelled against their fellow officers. I, frankly, I think it’s quite disgusting. On a personal level, I think it’s quite disgusting.”

Further to this, and this week’s publication of the O’Higgins report into allegations made by Sgt Maurice McCabe….

In today’s Irish Examiner, Michael Clifford reports that claims made by Noirín O’Sullivan’s senior counsel to the O’Higgins Commission of Investigation – that Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe was acting out of malice – were proven to be untrue.

Yet they weren’t included in Justice O’Higgins’ findings.

Ms O’Sullivan was represented by Colm Smyth, SC, while Sgt McCabe was represented by Michael McDowell, SC, now a Senator.

Mr Clifford reports:

At the very early stages, the inquiry was told by senior counsel for Ms O’Sullivan that evidence would be produced to show that Sgt McCabe had told two other officers that he was making his complaints because of malice he harboured towards a senior officer.

The inquiry was informed that the two officers had taken notes at the meeting in question and prepared a report which was forwarded to a senior officer.

However, a few days after the submission, Sgt McCabe informed Mr O’Higgins he had a tape recording of the meeting in question.

Mr O’Higgins indicated that the transcript coincided precisely with Sgt McCabe’s version of events and was in conflict with the allegation that he had told the two officers he was motivated by malice.

…At the inquiry, the commissioner was represented by the same counsel as two of the officers against whom Sgt McCabe had made allegations.

A Garda spokesperson said the commissioner was barred by statute from commenting on the commission.

Garda Commissioner claimed Maurice McCabe was motivated by ‘malice’ (Irish Examiner)

There you go.

UPDATE: You can read the report in full here

Previously: Just The Facts

‘Something For Everyone’

Update:

90418324

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald announces the publication of the O’Higgins Commission report this afternoon at government buildings.

Rollingnews

Screen-Shot-2014-05-20-at-09.44.521-1024x616

Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe on duty in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, when he met Enda Kenny while the Taoiseach was canvassing in the town ahead of the local and European elections in May 2014

You’ll recall how High Court Judge Kevin O’Higgins was appointed in 2015 to chair a Commission of Investigation into complaints of Garda malpractice in the Cavan-Monaghan area made by Sgt Maurice McCabe.

The Commission of Investigation was launched on the advice of Sean Guerin SC who initially looked into Sgt McCabe’s complaints.

The O’Higgins report has not been published but it was handed to the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald on April 25.

Since then, there has been a drip feed of articles about the contents of the report.

Last night, after having secured a copy of the report, RTÉ journalist Philip Boucher Hayes said the following on RTÉ One’s Drivetime:

It’s a bit of a Late Late Show report – there’s something for everyone in it. It’s the kind of document that doesn’t make a clear determination one way or another so much as it criticises and it exonerates everybody in equal measure. If you were of the view that Maurice McCabe blaguarded his colleagues and exaggerated cases in order to pursue his own agenda, you’d find some substantiation for that in what Justice O’Higgins has to say.

McCabe was “prone to exaggeration at times”. Some of his complaints against his fellow gardaí were “over stated”. Some were described in the report as “unfounded”. And, as evidence of McCabe’s ingenuity, his detractors will point to the allegations which were “withdrawn”.

A picture emerges of McCabe on this reading, as somebody who cried wolf, who dragged the reputations of his colleagues and the entire force through the mud needlessly but that’s a selective reading of what Justice O’Higgins has to say.

He also says of the whistleblower sergeant that he is a person “who acted out of genuine legitimate concern”, that he “was never less than truthful in his evidence”.

The judge says he, “unreservedly accepts his bona fides” and that he had shown “courage and performed a genuine public service at considerable personal cost. For this he is due the gratitude of not only the general public but An Garda Síochána”.”

Those who were previously persuaded that Maurice McCabe wasn’t the victim of discrimination will find evidence in the support this belief. McCabe said he “had reason to believe that he was being set up and wrongly implicated” in some of the cases of which he had complained. Attempts were being made to point the finger of blame right back at McCabe where he had cried malpractice.”

The judge said that such a belief was “unproven” so McCabe wasn’t being persecuted for coming forward on this reading. Yes, except the report also says that there are five instances where there were attempts by the force to “blame Mr McCabe for malpractice or poor policing”. And, in each of these cases, the judge decided that “the sergeant was being wrongly blamed”.

So, simultaneously, Maurice McCabe wasn’t being persecuted for blowing the whistle but was being wrongly blamed by fellow gardaí for doing things that he didn’t do.

Another headline Maurice McCabe’s detractors point to is his allegation of corruption made against Former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. Mr Callinan is “entitled to have his reputation vindicated” and that allegations made against him by Maurice McCabe “were unfounded and deeply hurtful” says the judge. Proof again that McCabe was pointing an unjustified finger of blame.

But in the same paragraph, where this appears, it’s also made clear that McCabe never accused Callinan of corruption – “He had not intended to make allegations of criminal conduct against the Commissioner but rather of an abuse of power only.”

Frustrated that he was being ignored by Garda management, Maurice McCabe had found a device that would ensure his complaints which, the judge affirms, would get a hearing.

“The complaint was in part a device to make sure that it came before the minister. At that time a complaint against the Commissioner had to be referred to the minister.”

Again the judge offers something for all sides to say they had been unfairly maligned and simultaneously vindicated.

Anyone reading the accounts of the report that Maurice McCabe withdrew his allegations could reasonably infer that he knew he was on shaky ground in some of the things that he was saying.

On the contrary though it emerges in the transcripts of the commission that Sgt McCabe withdrew one complaint against an officer whom he felt should have been more critical of the shortcomings of a junior officer.

When he was presented with the testimony of the senior criticising his junior, McCabe withdrew the complaint saying that this “was the first time I’ve seen this”.

Justice O’Higgins had to plot his way through a great deal of, he said, she said. But what was at the root of all of this was McCabe’s allegations of Garda incompetence or malpractice. Here, he finds repeatedly that the Gardai didn’t do their jobs properly.

He says, of Lorraine Brown, and her allegation of assault that she “under went a harrowing experience and was entitled to have the matter dealt with competently and professionally by the gardaí. Unfortunately, as is evident from the findings of the commission, her legitimate expectations in this regard were not met.”

Of Maurice McCabe’s claim that gardai were failing to prosecute motoring offences and impose penalty points, the judge finds that “there was a clear pattern of members of the public being stopped for having no insurance or some other deficit in their documentation. In a number of those offences, the member of the public recorded as having admitted the offence. However, the examined print outs reveal a failure to prosecute in many instances.”

Of the investigation into the assault at the Lakeside Manor Hotel, the judge says “the investigation of this incident was characterised by delay and error. Sgt McCabe correctly identified the deficiencies in the investigation and the steps necessary to rectify them”.

And of the most tragic of all of the cases, highlighted by Maurice McCabe, the murder of Sylvia Roche Kelly, by Jerry McGrath, the judge concludes that McGrath shouldn’t have been out on bail and wouldn’t have been were it not for a failure on the part of gardaí in Cavan.

He says that there can be no excuse for “a misclassification of that assault and a failure to communicate effectively within AGS [An Garda Siochána] to ensure accurate and relevant information was shared.”

Any report this long is going to lend itself to being read from in a way that supports one narrative over another. Even more so in the case of this report which offers something for everyone to support their case.

But so too does it support many of the allegations of incompetence, poor practice, malpractice and failure to serve the public that were at the heart of what Maurice McCabe first alleged.

Listen back in full here

Previously: Lest We Forget

Fennelly Report: The Digested Read

Screen-Shot-2014-05-20-at-09.44.521-1024x616

Taoiseach Enda Kenny shaking hands with Sgt Maurice McCabe in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath during the 2014 local and European elections

You may recall how Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins was appointed last year to carry out a Commission of Investigation into allegations made by Sergeant Maurice McCabe, following a report by Sean Guerin SC, who recommended such an investigation take place.

The allegations pertained to allegations of Garda corruption and malpractice in the Cavan-Monaghan division.

Further to this, the Commission has requested more time to carry out its work and asked for its deadline to be extended until April 29.

The Department of Justice sez:

“The Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald, TD, has extended the reporting date for the O’Higgins Commission of Investigation by three months to end April 2016 following a request from the Commission.”

“This Commission of Investigation was established to investigate and report on certain matters relative to the Cavan/Monaghan Division of the Garda Síochána and has Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins as Sole Member. The Commission commenced its work on 10 February 2015 and was set an indicative period of one year within which to report.”

“The Commission submitted an Interim Report on 14 December 2015 requesting the Minister to exercise her powers under section 6(6) of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004 to provide a three month extension for the Commission to report. The Commission is now proposing to report by 29 April 2016. The Minister has granted the extension.”

See the interim report here.

More to follow.

Screen-Shot-2014-05-20-at-09.44.521-1024x616Taoiseach Enda Kenny meets Sgt Maurice McCabe in Mullingar, Co Westmeath during the local and European elections last May

Further to revelations this morning by the Garda Professional Standards Unit (GPSU) of evidence of fresh penalty points quashing by gardai…

The GPSU’s investigation was carried out on the foot of claims last year by Sgt Maurice McCabe that some officers were continuing to cancel penalty points for colleagues, friends and relations.

Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness – chairman of the Public Accounts Committee – said at the time:

“I am deeply concerned that Maurice will be targeted again. We need a guarantee that he will not be punished again in any way for trying to do his job and helping to improve our police force.”

Further to this, we understand (from an informed Garda source), Sgt McCabe has not been able to attend work for the last two weeks due apparently to “sustained pressure” as a result of his reporting of wrongdoing within the gardaí.

UPDATE: This (above crossed out) is incorrect. We are sorry.

Previously: Lest We Forget

The Thin Blue Timeline Updated

TD Daly claims to have new information on alleged Garda corruption (BreakingNews.ie)