McCabe family suing for

damages over false sexual

abuse allegation
Shane Phelan
March 3 2017

They said the HSE statement in which the apology was

issued was wrong and that information in it did not
coincide with information released to the McCabes by
Tusla under the Freedom of Information Act.
The HSE statement said that once the alleged error was
discovered all proper procedures were taken by the HSE.
However, the McCabes said their FOI file showed the
opposite.
The lawsuit was filed just two days after the Disclosure
Tribunal, which will investigate claims of an alleged smear
campaign against Sgt McCabe, opened at Dublin Castle.
The tribunal is currently seeking submissions from anyone
with information about matters covered by its terms of
reference.
Parties have until March 13 to make submissions and hand
over any evidence they have to the tribunal, which is
headed by Mr Justice Peter Charleton.

Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe

Reliefs are also being sought to compel the HSE and Tusla
provide information and documents to the family.
It is understood that certain injunctions may also be
sought as part of the proceedings.
The High Court proceedings were initiated on Wednesday.
However, statements of claim have yet to be served on the
HSE and Tusla.
A counsellor who filed false accusations of sexual abuse
against Sgt McCabe was working for the HSEs National
Counselling Service when the claims were made in August
2013.
The following May Tusla was told the accusation was the
result of a clerical error.
However, the untrue sexual abuse claim remained on a
Tusla file until at least January 2016 when a member of its
staff, unaware there was no substance to it, contacted Sgt
McCabe.
The Tusla file, which included details of Sgt McCabe, his
wife and his children, was also shared with garda.
Both Tusla and the HSE have issued apologies to the
McCabes.
However, the McCabes rejected the HSE apology.
They said the HSE statement in which the apology was
issued was wrong and that information in it did not
coincide with information released to the McCabes by
Tusla under the Freedom of Information Act.
The HSE statement said that once the alleged error was
discovered all proper procedures were taken by the HSE.
However, the McCabes said their FOI file showed the
opposite.
The lawsuit was filed just two days after the Disclosure
Tribunal, which will investigate claims of an alleged smear
campaign against Sgt McCabe, opened at Dublin Castle.
The tribunal is currently seeking submissions from anyone
with information about matters covered by its terms of
reference.
Parties have until March 13 to make submissions and hand
over any evidence they have to the tribunal, which is
headed by Mr Justice Peter Charleton.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/mccabe-family-suing-for-
damages-over-false-sexual-abuse-allegation-35499194.html
Charleton Tribunal into
treatment of
whistleblowers begins
Claire Murphy
February 27 2017
The Charleton Tribunal of Inquiry into
alleged mistreatment of Garda
whistleblowers opens this morning for the
first of the public hearings.
Mr Justice Peter Charleton started to deliver his opening
statement of the Disclosures Tribunal at 9.30am sharp.

Sergeant Maurice McCabe. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

It's expected that Justice Charleton will lay out the
timeline of the proceedings.
But there will be no applications for representation and it
is expected that the tribunal will return several weeks
later.
The inquiry will investigate whether a smear campaign
was orchestrated by senior garda against whistleblower
Maurice McCabe.
Former Garda press officer Superintendent David Taylor
claimed in a protected disclosure there was an
orchestrated campaign to discredit Sgt McCabe and that
Garda Commissioner Nirn O'Sullivan was aware of it.
But the Commissioner has insisted she was not aware of
any such campaign. She has also rejected suggestions she
should step aside either permanently or temporarily.
It's reported that the Charleton Tribunal will be asked to
examine texts and other data extracted from phones
assigned to Supt Taylor.
The contents of communications recovered from at least
three mobile phones and sim cards assigned to Supt
Taylor by Garda HQ are likely to come before the tribunal.
The event is open to members of the public and is not
solely a media event.
Cameras will be permitted in the room, but must be silent
and in a fixed position.
But Justice Charleton will not take questions from the
media or the public.
It's understood that fees for lawyers acting for the
Charleton Tribunal of inquiry, which opens in Dublin
Castle tomorrow, are still being negotiated by the
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/charleton-tribunal-into-
treatment-of-whistleblowers-begins-35484780.html
Reports on wards of
courts fund performance
delayed
Gavin McLoughlin
February 26 2017

Families of wards of court who were

promised individual statements on the
performance of wards' funds by the end of
last year will now have to wait until the third
quarter of this year.
Wards of court are people judged by a court to be
incapable of managing their own financial affairs, and the
Courts Service is responsible for managing their money.
Controversy has arisen in the past over the performance of
funds in which wards' money had been invested, and
Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald told the Dail last September
that individual statements on the performance of ward's
funds would be issued at the end of 2016.
The statements were to be issued to so-called committees -
a person or persons appointed by the courts to act on the
ward's behalf subject to the court's instructions. Such
committees often include family members.
"The wards of court office is putting in place a new system
whereby statements are sent automatically to the
representatives of wards of court," a Courts Service
spokesman said.
"Work is ongoing to enable these statements to be issued.
The current records, over 2,800 cases, are manual and to
ensure accuracy and indeed, to avoid data protection
breaches, all data is being carefully checked. This process
is taking longer than anticipated and as a consequence, the
provision of these statements will commence from the
third quarter of 2017.
"In the meantime the wards of court office is already
providing, and will continue to provide, individual
statements on request from the committees of wards of
court."
A spokeswoman for the Justice for Wards group which
campaigns on behalf of wards of court said the delay was
"impossible to accept" and urged people with an interest in
the area to contact the group.
Refusing To Collude
Bodger at 3:44 pm February 27, 2017
 Management consultant Eddie Molly wrote of dark
forces within An Garda Sochna
You may recall the Independent Review Panel
set up by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald in
July 2014, following the publication of the
Guerin Report which looked at allegations made
by Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe.
The purpose of the panel was to investigate
allegations of Garda misconduct, crime and
cover-up and to ascertain if further
investigations were needed. Some
322 allegations were ultimately included in the
panel review.
These cases included that of Shane OFarrell
who was killed in a hit-and-run and the case of
Cynthia Owen.
Readers will recall how both the OFarrell family
and Ms Owen received letters informing them that
the Independent Panel Review found no further
action should be taken in their respective cases.
Oddly, at this time, Ms Owen received her letter
while still being in contact with gardai who were
informing her that they were continuing to
investigate her case.
In addition, one of the Senior Counsel who was
appointed to the Independent Review Panel
was Conor Devally who defended Zigimantus
Gridziuska, the man who killed Shane OFarrell.
The OFarrell family were later told that Mr
Devally wouldnt be involved in the Shane
OFarrell case due to a conflict of interest.
However, it was also reported that Mr Devally
was to receive a brief fee of 20,000 to oversee
all the complaints.
In addition, a 53-page Independent Review
Mechanism Overview Report based on a paper
review of the 322 allegations was published on
the Department of Justice website last year,
devoid of any names or outcomes.
Further to this, and the recent controversies
surrounding the garda, Eddie Molloy, a
management consultant, (above) wrote an
opinion piece in the Irish Independent, on
Monday, February 20, about the Independent
Review Panel, entitled Deep-rooted dark forces
in Garda are intent on obstructing reform.
Following this, Mr Molloy spoke to Pat Kenny on
Newstalk last Friday morning.
He spoke about a female civil servant who has
told him when she was a junior civil servant, she
refused to collude with the cover-up of
misappropriation of money and also the failure, as
she saw it, to investigate two murders and how
her career was subsequently hampered by this
refusal.
Mr Molloy also said it initially took a
monumental effort to get her case included in
the Independent Review Panel and that, in the
end, the panel found no further action was
required.
From the interview:
Pat Kenny: Deep-rooted dark forces, it sounds
very sinister.
Eddie Molloy: Well, first of all, Pat, thats a
phrase that was first used by Diarmuid Martin
when he came back to Ireland and was facing
into the whole child abuse era and was being
resisted by the bishops. Now, if there are dark
forces at work in the Catholic Church, its not an
inappropriate term to use in relation to the
guards. What prompted the [Irish Independent]
article to which you refer was that, when
Maurice McCabe and John Wilson began blowing
the whistle, there was a spate of other
complaints that came to the guards and the
total number were 322 322 allegations of
misbehaviour, malpractice were brought
forward. And the Department of Justice set up a
panel of five barristers to review these hundreds
of cases, to see was there anything to see here
and which ones were vexatious and which ones
were real and which ones should be
investigated further. Now, in the article I wrote,
we havent heard from that panel since. But Ill
give you whats happened.
Pat Kenny: There was a report though, wasnt
there?
Molloy: Well, Ill come to the report in a second.
In July 2014, a report on the Department of
Justice, the Toland Report, and Im quoting from
the report, I have it in front of me here, says, in
the review of the review group, thats the Toland
group, theres a deferential relationship
between the Department and An Garda with the
lack of proper strategic accountability being
brought to bear on them by the department.
The department has adopted a passive
approach to the Garda, stepping back from
taking the opportunity to exercise the necessary
power and influence, at its disposal,
to encourage the improvement in management
and discipline. In other words, the department
behaviour in relation to the gardai, that its
supposed to be overseeing, is totally to back off
and say nothing.
Now, this report on the 320 allegations follows
a year later. And they open the report by saying
that the Department of Justice has been seen,
since the foundation of the State, as an
appropriate channel, through which to make
representations about bad behaviour in the
guards. I mean this is a self-regarding load of
rubbish, ok? They are patently not an
organisation that people would have felt
comfortable about, approaching, to deal with
the guards, based on what I just said from
Toland. The reason that people, including the
case I cited in the article, the reason that people
brought their case was because there was a
panel of five judges, who were deemed to be
somehow independent
Kenny: Barristers
Molloy: Barristers, sorry, barristers,
independent of the guards and of the
Department of Justice. But in the first page of
this report, from the Department of Justice, on
the 322 cases, they say: the appointment of this
panel of judges [sic] was to a degree an
enhancement of the function already
discharged by the Department of Justice and
Equality where divisions such as the Garda
division reviews correspondence. So, so, I mean
it doesnt give me any pleasure to be criticising
the guards or civil servants because my instinct
towards them is one of respect, generally, but
this report on the 322 cases is an absolute
whitewash.
Kenny: OK, the barristers in question, and I
certainly dont want to impugn the reputation of
any member of the Law Library but were they
people who routinely work for the prosecution in
cases
Molloy: I have no idea. One of the things about
this report, it has no name, names in it. The
Toland report has all the names of the people
who produced the report
Kenny: The five barristers are not named?
Molloy: Theyre not named, theres no names,
theres no date on the report and theres no author
of the report. This was written, patently, by an
official of the Department of Justice who doesnt
seem to have read the Toland Report which was
a coruscating criticism
Kenny: But theres no name of this official
either?
Molloy: No, theres no name of this official
either
Kenny: So the 322 cases. I mean, can you give
us percentages, how many were found in favour
of the complainant, how many were rejected out
of hand?
Molloy: This is a 57-page report and it tells you
nothing about the outcomes
Kenny: What?
Molloy: It tells you nothing, zero, about the
outcomes of these 322 allegations. What it does
is, it goes through the allegations and it has
section after section after section, saying how
complicated these were, they went back
decades and there were various agencies
involved. So, you got to understand they were
telling you this wasnt easy. Now, but they then
do is, what they do is they study, they seem to
study the allegations and then they make
recommendations for improvements in Garda
behaviour. So, the net effect is
Kenny: So the complainant gets no justice?
Molloy: Theres no justice, theres nothing
about outcomes, the numbers who were
followed through on
Kenny: No disciplining of the
Molloy: Nothing about, was there a pattern
here? Was it the same divisions or areas? Was it
Donegal or Kerry? Theres nothing in it about the
behaviour of the guards which was the basis on
which 322 people made
Kenny: Youd think at least there would be, we
found, just cause in 100 of the 322, and we
rejected out of hand, 100, and then we hadnt
enough evidence or time had elapsed and
Molloy: Thats right and, currently, there are six
before the courts, or whatever yeah theres
nothing like that. So, Ill give you, I mean one of
the recommendations, for example, is that
gardai be trained in family liaison so that
families who are, you know, have a difficult case
going through, that the guards would
communicate with them better about their case
coming up in the court and theres an inquest
due. But heres one: recommendation 13 [sic,
12]: Furthermore, culpable delay in pursuing
GSOC investigations should be specifically
included as a matter of potential breach of
discipline or misconduct, in the disciplinary
regulations of an Garda Sochna.
Six months ago, Judge Mary Ellen Ring, whos
the chairman of GSOC, threatened to issue
summons against the Garda Siochana, for their
tardiness, in producing information. Now
yesterday [February 19, Thursday], before the
Policing Authority, and its all over the papers
today, that the guards are vexed at the media
criticism theyre getting because their hands
are now tied behind their back and theyre not
able to speak for themselves and the other side
of the story. Its been their form not to give the
other side of the story. Their form is close ranks,
cover up and hope that time will The thing
that concerns me about these 322 allegations,
and I say to you there are no information in this
report, my concern about it is that any progress
in it will have to wait until the end of the
Charleton investigation because the guards can
cry, you know, its sub judice.
Kenny: We cant say anything until
Molloy: We cant say anything until..
Kenny: This is all done and dustedNow I want
you to go though, to the case you referred to, in
your article which concerns a young civil
servant.
Molloy: Yeah, I, after a programme, something
like this, I got a phone call from a civil servant,
probably now in her early 50s, I would guess, and
she told me a story and I listened to her. I met
her on three occasions for two hours each and I
had a third-party present at one of those
meetings and she told me a story how, and I
have to be careful what I say here because I
dont have her permission to take it much
further than I have done. That she refused, as
quite a junior person in the civil service, to collude
with the cover-up of misappropriation of money
and also the failure, as she saw it, to investigate
two murders. Ok?
Kenny: So, now this was to do with the Garda
Siochana.
Molloy: To do with the Garda Siochana and, ok,
another agency. Ok. Im not going to say what it
was. Now, I listened to a harrowing story of her
career being blighted and really has never made
any progress in her career..
Kenny: She was showing moral fibre..
Molloy: She was showing, in my view
Kenny: Its very difficult as a junior to stand up
against a senior, as she did
Molloy: A woman of the highest integrity, in my
view. Now, look, people have said, when they
met Maurice McCabe, they found him
believable. I found this woman believable and
Im highly trained, as it happens, in interviewing
people. So it would be hard, I think, to pull one
over on me. Ok? And it could turn out, on
further investigation, shes delusional and
people cite all kinds of things when they dont
get promotion, theres that to it. But the fact of
the matter is: heres the story in her case. She has
wads of documentation, Ive seen the
documentation. Some of the documentation is
incriminating with regard to the guards and civil
servants. And Ive seen that. Her case, it took a
monumental effort to get her case included in the
322, that was not straight forward. She heard
nothing, for a year, and eventually she gets a one-
liner saying theres nothing to see here without
ever speaking to her or seeing the documentation.
Now, so, this is described as an independent
review mechanism, an overview report. No date
and no names and thats how they have dealt
with these 322
Report of the Independent Review Group
on the Department of Justice and
Equality July 11th, 2014
http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Independen
t%20Review
%20Accessible.pdf/Files/Independent
%20Review%20Accessible.pdf

Independent Review Mechanism

Overview Report

http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/IRM
%20Overview%20Report.pdf/Files/IRM
%20Overview%20Report.pdf

Justice Denied
 From RTs Prime Time last night
You may recall the independent review panel set
up by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald in July
2014, following the publication of the Guerin
Report which looked at allegations made by
Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.
The purpose of the panel is to investigate
allegations of Garda misconduct, crime and
cover-up and to ascertain if further
investigations are needed.
Some of the cases involve the deaths of
individuals.
Last night, on Prime Time, political
correspondent for RTs Current Affairs
Department Katie Hannon presented a report on
the work of the panel.
She explained:
320 cases were ultimately accepted for
review. 17 months later, 152 families have received a
response to their complaints. The Justice Department
would not confirm what was in those responses,
saying the minister will issue a comprehensive
statement when the process is complete. However, we
know that, of the first 120 cases reviewed, the
panel recommended that no further action
was warranted in 105 cases. Just nine cases
were referred to GSOC for investigation while the
minister sought a report from the Garda
Commissioner in six other cases.
During her report, Ms Hannon also
looked closely at six cases the deaths of
Patrick Nugent, 23, who died in February 1984;
Adrian Moynihan, aged 23, who died in March
2001; Shane Tuohey, 23, who died in February
2002; Catherine Davis, 35, who died June 2007;
John Kelly, 24, who died October 2008; and
Shane OFarrell, 23, who died August 2011.
The families of all these people are not
satisfied with the review panel.
In her report, Ms Hannon tried to find out
exactly what information the review panel
is reviewing.
It wasnt an easy task, as Ms Hannon
discovered.
Ms Hannon explained that, in July 2015, Justice
Minister Frances Fitzgerald had told the Dil that
the panel has access to information from the
garda and GSOC.
On foot of this, Ms Hannon said, some families
contacted GSOC to ask if it had made files
pertaining to their cases available to the review
panel.
But GSOC responded saying it didnt because,
The independent review mechanism is a non-
statutory mechanism and, as such, it is not entitled
to request or receive from GSOC files and
documentation relating to complaints made to
GSOC.
In turn, Ms Hannon asked the Justice Department
if the panel had the authority to access the Garda
files.
The department responded by saying,
The Garda fully co-operated with requests
for information in connections with the cases
referred to the panel.
Ms Hannon asked again, repeatedly, if the panel
had access to the Garda files.
She reported:
A spokesman for the minister declined to say
and pressed he would only repeat the Garda
fully co-operated with requests for
information.
Furthermore, Ms Hannon explained that, also in
July 2015, Minister Fitzgerald told the Dil that
the panel had asked for additional information
from the families. Ms Fitzgerald told the Dil that
further information was given by families in more
than 200 cases.
However, the Justice4All group says its not
aware that the panel asked any family for further
information.
In fact, Ms Hannon reported, the family of Shane
Tuohey were turned away when they tried to give
the panel further information. The new information
was based on CCTV tapes that turned up after
the family was originally told they were missing.
The panel told the family,
The examination of any evidence in the context
of a criminal investigation is an operational
matter for the Garda Commissioner.
It should also be noted that the panel did not
hear any oral evidence.

Lie Then Cover-Up

Lucia and Jim OFarrell with a picture of their late

son, Shane
Lucia OFarrells 23-year-old son, Shane, was
killed in a hit-and-run in Carrickmacross in Co.
Monaghan by Zigimantus Gridziuska, from
Lithuania, on August 2, 2011.
Gridziuska was acquitted of dangerous driving
causing death. He pleaded guilty to failing to
stop, report or remain at the scene of the crash
and he received an eight-month suspended
sentence in on February 28, 2013, on condition
that he leave the country within 21 days.
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Judge Pat McCartan, at the Circuit Criminal
Court in Dublin, gave Gridziuska the choice of
serving the with months or leaving the country
and he chose the latter.
During the sentencing of Gridzisuka, Ms
OFarrell claims Judge McCartan asked if there
was anything coming up in the pipeline for
Gridziuska and that the State solicitor failed to
notify the judge that over the five months
before Gridziuskas trial a file had been
prepared in relation to insurance fraud charges
against Gridziuska.
Ms OFarrell repeatedly requested for this file to
be compiled and completed so that it could be
included in the proceedings of the case of
dangerous driving causing death.
But it wasnt.
On March 6, 2013 just days after he was
ordered to leave the State within 21 days
Gridziuska appeared in Carrickmacross District
Court for insurance fraud and he was jailed for
five months by Judge Sean MacBride in relation
to three policies of insurance fraud, one of
which covered the day on which Shane was
killed. Judge MacBride also banned him from
driving for ten years.
On February 6, 2013, Lucia OFarrell sent a
letter to Fiona Downes, prosecution solicitor of
Circuit Court Section at DPP office, stating:
Thank you for your reply dealing with my
conversation yesterday, Tue 5th February 2013.
I asked if those charges of fraud relating to the
insurance held by the accused could be
included in the trial commencing on 11th of
February 2013. Your letter states that you are
waiting on the file from the Garda and therefore
the decision to prosecute can not be made yet.
On Friday, 1st February, I was speaking to the
investigating officer. He informed me that the
investigation is complete except for the
interview. I informed the garda on the 17th of
September 2012 to formally request to have his
insurance checked. It is now February 2013
(almost five months ago). In view that it is
almost five months since I brought it to their
attention, I fail to understand why there is a
delay now when we know the file is complete.
This is very relevant to a charge of dangerous
driving causing death. The judge should have
this information. Its not as if he is up for
burglary.
The gardai failed to formally request and check
the accuseds insurance within the six months
[of Shanes death] and now I question whos
benefit the delay is for. I spoke with [redacted]
yesterday, Tuesday, 5th [February] pm and he
informed me the delay was Dublin. The DPP
are informing me its the Garda. Which is it?
And why?
I am confused as to why the insurance of the
accused has to wait until after the trial. What is
in the file that the judge will have in front of
him? Will it state or imply that the accused had
valid insurance? Will it state or imply that the
accuseds insurance was checked and in order?
Can he be charged with the fraud offence
before sentencing? so as not to mislead the
court that he had valid insurance on the
evening of August 2, 2011. This is the duty of
the State to inform and not mislead the judge. I
am formally asking you that he be charged with
fraud before sentencing. Thank you again for all
your assistance.
On March 11, 2013, Ms OFarrell wrote to Supt
Gerard Russell, from Carrickmacross District
Division of Cavan/Monaghan, stating:
On September 7, 2012, we brought formally to
your attention requesting to have the accuseds
insurance checked, for the date of August 2,
2011 when my son was murdered by a
Lithuanian who was on bail at the time. We also
requested the insurance details of this evil man,
this was over a year after Shane was cruelly
and inhumanely killed, and five months before
the trial.
As you are aware the Gardai failed to formally
request to have this insurance checked. When
this was brought to your attention (by our
family, one year later) it was statue barred, so
therefore the accused could not be charged or
convicted for not having valid insurance. The
garda had failed in their duty, to Shane and to
our family. We also formally asked the gardai
and raised several issues on October 26, 2012
regarding the accuseds insurance. Travellers
Insurance stated to me that we are waiting for
the gardai to formally request to have this
insurance checked and this has not been done
and we cant tell the gardai how to do their job.
On December 13, 2012, I wrote a four-page
letter [sent by registered post] to you
requesting each and every insurance policy
held by the accused and each and every related
insurance policy held by the accused (including
current policy) to be checked since he came
into the country. This letter was CCed to GSOC.
We have been informed that the fraud relating
to insurance policies was being checked. We
were informed that this is an indictable offence,
under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud
Offences) Act 2001. We were told by you that
this indictable offence would be dealt with in a
circuit court in front of a judge and jury. We
were also informed that the penalty for this is
five years and that the facts will speak for
themselves. Why then did you agree to have
this heard in a district court? (Where you know
that the maximum he would get would be six
months).
As you are aware we asked for the insurance
fraud to be included in the proceedings of the
case of dangerous driving causing death of our
son ShaneThis was not included, as to do so
would have highlighted the fact that the Gardai
failed to have the insurance checked in time,
within the six months (after he killed Shane).
Coincidentally, Shanes case finished on the last
day of February 2013, and the file (which was over
five months being prepared) was submitted the
very next day. How convenient. This file on
serious fraud where all the facts will speak for
themselves, and which was five months being
prepared, was submitted on March 1, 2013, to
the DPP office so as to separate it from the
tragic killing of Shane. It would not look good to
link this serious insurance fraud with the death
of Shane.
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has ordered a
panel of barristers to review Shanes case and
220 others where alleged garda inadaquecy,
competence or corruption are involved. One of
the Senior Counsel overseeing the process is
Conor Devally, who defended Gridziuska.
On Drivetime last night, Ms OFarrell told Philip
Boucher Hayes:
Two weeks ago, I attended the Macgill Summer
School and I listened to the debate on
openness, transparency and accountability. And
theyre quick to use these words, they flow off
their lips a new era and openness and
transparency. And I raised a question, I raised
Shanes question about his death and his
unlawful killing, and I wanted a public inquiry. I
shouldnt have to drive to Donegal, to the
Glenties to get, to raise a question. I have been
trying for days to ring the department but
theres nobody willing to speak. Theyre not at
their desk or theyre at a meeting.
I think families have been failed hugely. I think
Nigel Rodley said, very rightly, in Geneva a few
weeks ago that Irelands answer to every
scandal and when will they stop, replying to
every scandal with, first, delay, then deny, then
lie, then cover-up and then eventually theyre
forced to throw money at it and hope it goes
away. They talk about openness and
transparency and accountability, they dont
mean a word of it, theres no evidence of that.
Meanwhile, the following is a short timeline of
some of the Gridziuskas criminal history which
shows how had his bail been revoked at
numerous points he may not have been
driving the car on the day Shane died.
May 9, 2011: Gridziuska gets a four-month
suspended sentence at Ardee District Court in
Co. Louth for five counts of theft. The charges
are in relation to him stealing five times, over
five consecutive days, from Lidl. His sentence is
suspended for two years. At this point,
Gridziuska is already supposed to be adhering
to a condition of good behaviour in relation to a
case that was adjourned for a year, in
Monaghan Circuit Court in January 2011.
July 6, 2011: The Garda Drugs Squad pull
over Gridziuska and find on the dashboard what
they believe to be the charred remains of tinfoil
and heroin that somebody had been smoking.
After taking the remains, Gridziuska is waved
on. The car has no NCT at the time.
July 14, 2011: Gridziuska is arrested in Newry, Co
Down, for three counts of theft. He pleads guilty
to each count and receives a five-month
sentence for each count, suspended for two
years. The PSNI contact the garda to confirm
Gridziuskas address. At this point Gridziuska is
already on bail for theft charges in Co. Cavan
and isnt supposed to leave the jurisdiction. He
is also supposed to be signing on at a garda
station daily.
July 27, 2011: The charred remains are sent to a
forensic lab. Its later confirmed that the
remains contained heroin.
August 2, 2011: The Garda Drugs Squad pull over
the car that Gridziuska is travelling in, along
with Paulius Paplauskas/Petrosas and Edgars
Zelenousy, on suspicion that they had drugs in
their possession. Zelenousy is driving the car
when its pulled over. The OFarrell family
understand the garda asked the men to get out
of the car, searched them and then got
Zelenousy to switch with Gridziuska, thus
resulting in Gridziuska being behind the wheel.
Zelenousy has no insurance. The car is then
waved on.
Later that evening, Shane OFarrell is killed in a
hit-and-run, in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan,
by Gridziuska.
August 3, 2011: Gridziuska is arrested and the
car he was driving is found concealed in bushes.
August 4, 2011: Gridzuiska is brought to Dundalk
Court for a special sitting. Gridziuskas
suspended sentences are not activated and the
gardai do not object to him getting bail.
August 12, 2011: Gridziuska is found in
possession of heroin.
September 15, 2011: After being arrested at
Craigavon, Co. Armagh, Gridziuska is sentenced
to two weeks in jail at Belfast Magistrates Court,
after the pleads guilty to two counts of theft. At
this point Gridziuska is supposed to be signing
on at Carrickmacross Garda Station in Co.
Monaghan three times a week but he isnt
missed by gardai.
GSOC are currently carrying out a public interest
inquiry into the case of Shane OFarrell.

Former Garda chief

Martin Callinan DID meet
with TD John McGuinness
But Mr Callinan rejects claims that he tried to
blacken Sgt Maurice McCabes name

BYBLANAID MURPHY
18:44, 26 FEB 2017

The whistleblower scandal took a new twist today after

reports emerged of former Garda chief Martin Callinan
admitting he did have a meeting with a TD.
The ex-Garda Commissioner met TD John McGuinness in
a hotel car-park days before Sergeant Maurice McCabe
was due to appear before the Dails Public Accounts
Committee.
But Mr Callinan rejects claims made by the Fianna Fail
politician, who was vice chair of the committee, that he
tried to blackenuntrustworthy Sgt McCabes name before
he appeared in 2014.
In papers exchanged between Mr Callinan and a judge
hired to look into the allegations, Mr Callinan confirmed
the get-together did happen.
The documents, obtained by RTE, reveal Mr Callinan told
Judge Iarfhlaith ONeill: There are a variety of
descriptions of what occurred at that meeting, none of
which are correct.
You mention very serious allegations to which you wish
me to respond.
Both of the protected disclosures contain many vague
descriptions of events based on hearsay and indeed
hearsay upon hearsay.
In addition dates and times are not specified.
John McGuinness TD
I am prepared to cooperate fully in the process being
undertaken by you but having regard to the manner in
which, and the extent to which events in which I was
involved have been fundamentally distorted, I wish to
ensure that I am not prejudiced in any way by my
cooperation.
Judge ONeill responded within days and said he was
not attempting to establish any findings of fact.
He wrote: These allegations as set out in the four
documents, are in my opinion capable of being
addressed by you and responded by indicating whether
you deny all of them or whether you do not dispute
some of them.

That is all that is required of you at this stage.

If I am unable in this review, to ascertain from you
where you stand, I will simply have to assume a
blanked denial on your part of all the allegations and to
proceed to make recommendations accordingly.
Mr Callinan responded: In light of your clear desire for
me to take a position on the allegations, I confirm that
in so far as is possible,given the limited detail that the
allegations are denied.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/former-
garda-chief-martin-callinan-9921685
Whistleblower Maurice
McCabe: Former and
current Garda
Commissioners called on to
clarify stories
Former PAC chairman John McGuinness has
demanded explanations after revealing that ex-
chief Martin Callinan invited him to a hotel car
park to discuss Mr McCabe
BYED CARTY
15:56, 29 MAY 2016

John McGuinness at Leinster House

A current and former Garda commissioner have been
called on to clarify what stories were spread about whistle-
blower Sergeant Maurice McCabe.
John McGuinness, former chairman of the Public
Accounts Committee (PAC), demanded explanations after
revealing ex-police chief Martin Callinan invited him to a
hotel car park in January 2014 to discuss the officer.
He used Dail privilege last week to claim the retired
commissioner told him Sgt McCabe was not to be trusted
and there were serious issues about him.
Mr McGuinness described stories being peddled by senior
members of the force about the respected whistle-blower
as "vile" and "appalling" and designed to discredit him.
"I wasn't aware of the purpose of the meeting. I expected
that it would have been about the Public Accounts
Committee and its work. I expected that it would be about
Maurice McCabe and the evidence that was to be given. I
was willing to listen to what had to be said," the Fianna
Fail TD said.
Former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan
"I was taken aback by the nature of the conversation and
the detail that was given."
Mr McGuinness told RTE's This Week that the retired
commissioner rang seeking to meet off the Naas Road in
the days before Sgt McCabe was to give evidence to the
PAC in private about the wiping of penalty points.
The meeting lasted 20-30 minutes, he said.
Mr McGuinness revealed he had heard the allegations
about Sgt McCabe before and had also received
explanations from the whistle-blower about them.
He said questions must be answered over which senior
gardai were aware of attempts to discredit the officer who
has since been vindicated by the O'Higgins Commission
for exposing bad policing in the Cavan-Monaghan district.
Mr McGuinness said he wanted it made public which
senior gardai knew of efforts to stop Sgt McCabe giving
evidence to the PAC.
"These are legitimate questions now in the light of the fact
that everyone is suggesting that Maurice McCabe is right
and vindicated," Mr McGuinness said.

Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe (Photo: Collins Photo Agency)

On the current Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan, the

Carlow-Kilkenny TD said: "I can't express confidence
because the jury is out on that.
"Until such time as all of the current issues are clarified I
believe that no-one can express confidence in the
Commissioner."
Mr McGuinness insisted he was clear on the time and
content of the meeting with former commissioner Mr
Callinan.
"Martin Callinan is now retired. I believe a full statement in
relation to the efforts made by the Garda Siochana to
discredit Sgt Maurice McCabe, that a statement should be
made by the current Commissioner in relation to what was
known at that time about the efforts that were made and
who was involved. I think that that is essential," he said.
Mr McGuinness said Mr Callinan should clarify why he met
him in a hotel car park.
He also said he believed that if he had revealed the
meeting at the time it may have jeopardised Sgt McCabe's
evidence to the PAC.
The O'Higgins Commission found the vast majority of Sgt
McCabe's claims of negligence and malpractice were
proven. It said he was a man of integrity who should be
thanked for his whistle-blowing.
Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan (Photo: Stephen Collins/Collins
Photos)
Since its report Commissioner O'Sullivan has been under
deepening pressure over allegations that a lawyer for the
force claimed during hearings in the inquiry that he was
instructed to attack Sgt McCabe's integrity.
The police chief is to be grilled in public by the Police
Authority twice next month over the controversy.
A Garda memo from 2011 following an internal inquiry into
Sgt McCabe's allegations by Assistant Commissioner
Derek Byrne said there was no systemic failures in the
management and administration of policing in
Bailieborough or any criminal conduct.

26 Justice
Department
employees
suspended from
duty with full pay

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald

A TOTAL OF 26 Justice Department
employees have been suspended from duty
with full pay, pending an investigation.
The Deputy who asked for the information in
a parliamentary question, AAA-PBPs Richard
Boyd Barrett, said that the situation is at
odds with the fact the Garda Commissioner
Nirn OSullivan does not have to stand
aside from her role while the Charleton
Tribunal of Inquiry is underway.
Speaking on RTs The Week in Politics, Boyd
Barrett pointed out the figures show that
normally staff at the Department and its
associated organisations stand aside when
under investigation.
On the same programme, Minister for
Education Richard Bruton re-stated the
Governments view that Commissioner
OSullivan should stay in her role while the
Tribunal is underway.
Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty told
RT radio show This Week that the
government has full confidence in OSullivan.
There are allegations that have been made
against the current commissioner which she
has rejected and is welcoming the fact that
she will have the opportunity to clear her
name, she said. We have confidence in her
ability to do her job.
Read also: Shock recording of Coveney in
threat to Fianna Fail
She said the Policing Authority will keep a
close eye on ensuring the tribunal will not
take up too much of the Commissioners time
with regard to her doing her job.
Doherty said that it is without doubt that
the government has full confidence in
OSullivan.
Meanwhile, RT reports that OSullivans
predecessor, Martin Callinan, told a judge-led
review that he met with Fianna Fil TD John
McGuinness in a car park. The meeting
occurred before Garda whistleblower Maurice
McCabe appeared before the Dils Public
Accounts Committee almost three years ago.
Confidential correspondence seen by RTs
This Week programme indicates that Callinan
rejected accounts of the meeting contained
in two protected disclosures.
The opening statements in the Charleton
Tribunal officially to be called the
Disclosures Tribunal will take place on
Monday.
The tribunal will examine the alleged smears
made against Sergeant Maurice McCabe and
others.

Provided by Irish Independent Minister Katherine Zappone Photo:

Gareth Chaney/Collins
Seven staff members of the child and family agency
Tusla have been suspended, Children's Minister
Katherine Zappone has revealed.
In a written Dil reply to TD Richard Boyd Barrett,
Ms Zappone said Tusla has confirmed to her that
seven employees are currently on administrative
leave on full pay pending an internal investigation.
She gave no indication about whether those staff
members were involved in the "administrative error"
that led to the smearing of Garda whistleblower
Maurice McCabe.
She also confirmed Oberstown Children Detention
Campus has informed her one employee is
currently on suspension from work without prejudice
and on full pay pending an investigation.
"For reasons of confidentiality, Tusla cannot provide
specific details of staff currently on administrative
leave," the agency said.
However, in line with our HR policies and
procedures, staff can be placed on
administrative leave for various reasons and
periods of time, which are dependent on
individual situations."
Separately, Tnaiste and Justice Minister
Frances Fitzgerald said that in her
department and the organisations under its
aegis, there are 26 staff suspended from duty
with full pay.
In his reply to Mr Boyd Barrett, Finance
Minister Michael Noonan confirmed there are
currently two staff members of the Revenue
Commissioners under suspension on full pay
and without prejudice.
Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe
confirmed that there is one employee at his
Office of Government Procurement under
suspension, while Foreign Affairs Minister
Charlie Flanagan confirmed that there is one
staff member at his department currently
suspended.
Agriculture Minister Michael Creed confirmed
that at his department there is one employee
suspended from work without prejudice, on
full pay.
Minister for State at the Department of
Defence Paul Kehoe said there is one
employee of his department suspended.

Tanaiste says she has 'full

confidence' in Garda
Commissioner Nirn
O'Sullivan
Cormac McQuinn
February 27 2017
Tnaiste Frances Fitzgerald Picture: Kyran O'Brien
TNAISTE Frances Fitzgerald has said she
has "full confidence" in Garda
Commissioner Nirn O'Sullivan to remain
in her role during the Disclosure Tribunal.
Ms O'Sullivan has been under pressure to step aside for
the duration of the Tribunal into alleged mistreatment of
Garda whistleblowers.
Last week Policing Authority chairperson Josephine
Feehily raised concerns about the commissioner's ability
to fulfil her role while the inquiry is underway.
"I would say we have a degree of confidence, but we are
concerned," Ms Feehily told RT.
She said the authority was confident in terms of the
commissioner's capacity to run the force.
But the parallel running of a very complex organisation
while servicing the tribunal was a different matter, she
said.
Ms Fitzgerald said she fully respected what Ms Feehily had
to say.
She added that it is "reassuring" for the public that the
Authority "will continue to monitor the situation in
relation to the demands that will be on the Garda
Commissioner of both meeting the Tribunals demands
and doing the very important work of leading An Garda
Sochna."
"So I do have full confidence in the Garda Commissioner
to do that job but I would also want to say that I certainly
recognise the important work of the Policing Authority
and as I say I think its quite appropriate what Josephine
Feehily and the police authority had to say, that they will
monitor the situation as it emerges," Ms Fitzgerald added.
Minister Leo Varadkar also said he had confidence in the
Commissioner. He said she will "have to judge for herself"
whether she can fully discharge the role of Garda
Commissioner and contribute to the Tribunal.
He added: "I would be very reluctant for us to move into a
situation whereby officeholders were required or
individuals were required to step down or step aside just
because theyre under investigation.
I just dont think that would be a good precedent for a
number of reasons."
The Disclosure Tribunal, opened today by Mr Justice Peter
Charleton, is set to investigate whether a smear campaign
was orchestrated by senior garda against whistleblower
Maurice McCabe.
It has been claimed that Ms OSullivan was aware of it the
alleged campaign.
She has strongly denied this and rejected suggestions she
should step aside either permanently or temporarily,
saying she made the decision "because I am innocent".
"I would be very reluctant for us to move into a situation whereby
officeholders were required or individuals were required to step down or
step aside just because they are under investigation."
Most of us would agree with this as regards general roles but this is the
COMMISSIONER you are talking about, the person in charge, the
person who calls the shots. Thus it is a completely different matter. By
leaving her in her role you are setting a precedent, a very troubling
precedent.
She added: "I would be very reluctant for us to move into a situation
whereby officeholders were required or individuals were required to
step down or step aside just because theyre under investigation.
"I just dont think that would be a good precedent for a number of
reasons."
Well said Frances. Just because our police commissioner is under
investigation, on the foot of very serious allegations from a multiplicity
of independent sources, that is no reason for people to be concerned.
And the person who is best qualified to decide whether it impinges on
her ability to do the job is....eh... well that's the Commissioner herself.
Job done.
I am afraid that all this commission/tribunal will end up in is a huge
cover up.Titbits will then trickle down to the masses from "sources"
citing "the stability of the state,confidence of the people in the Garda
etc".I hope I am wrong and the truth and the whole truth will come
out.Then we can move on from this debacle and only then.Let the
consequences be what they be.
O'Sullivan should step aside.
O'Sullivan has said that she does not know what was going on in the
organisation.
Gardai, were suspended. Serious allegations were levelled at those
under suspension.
A smear campaign was started in response to honest reports of an abuse
of the system.
The ex- Commissioner was delaying meetings, to meet up with TD;s, to
discredit gardai on suspension, this was alleged by the TD.
All this, and maybe more, suggests incompetence, she was an integral
part of the system.
Its not a matter of innocence, it is a matter of incompetence.
What else would she say ? What else have they ever said ? That's the
problem in Ireland no one really knows what's going on half the time.
We don't need another tribunal that actually has loads of findings and
no one is indicted. I can guarantee everyone will be found innocent
trustworthy and good upstanding citizens . There will be some idiot who
will have suffered from some sort of amnesia though and that was the
reason why everything happened
WONDER WHAT SHE IS ON.
A gangster is a gangster is a gangster is a gangster no matter what
way you dress it up tone it down shade it around if it quacks like a
duck it's a Fianna Fraud F#ck...
fail is fail? drop the fada it names the party

State to pay Shatters

legal costs over challenge
to report on
whistleblower claims
Shane Phelan
March 2 2017

Alan Shatter
The State will have to pay former Justice
Minister Alan Shatters legal costs following
his successful challenge to a report on garda
whistleblowing.
The former Fine Gael TD also received a declaration from
the Court of Appeal that the conclusions of the report by
barrister Sean Guerin in relation to him were reached in
breach of fair procedure and natural justice.
Mr Shatter resigned as justice minister in 2014 after the
report found he had failed to heed concerns raised by
garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.
But a commission of investigation, headed by Mr Justice
Kevin OHiggins, subsequently found Mr Shatter had dealt
with the concerns appropriately.
Mr Shatter has blamed the report for the loss of his
political office.
Ruling today, the court awarded him his costs, which
could run to hundreds of thousands of euros.
But it put a stay on the order until it is clear whether or not
the matter will be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Mr Shatter was not granted orders he had sought for the
quashing of conclusions, that the quashing order be given
to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, and that Mr Guerin amend his
report and deliver it to the Taoiseach.
Instead the court said Mr Shatters lawyers could make
other suggestions to the Government.
There is no reason to suppose the State will not wish to
vindicate Mr Shatters good name, said the President of
the court, Mr Justice Sean Ryan.
One obvious mode of correction is by redacting the report
and explaining in marginal notes or footnote that this was
done in response to the judgment of the Court of Appeal in
this case.
Mr Shatter welcomed the ruling, but said he would be
seeking for the report to be removed from the Oireachtas
library and withdrawn from circulation.
I am very pleased with the courts decision, Mr Shatter
told Independent.ie.
I am very pleased obviously to get an order for costs. I
dont believe I should have had to spend almost three
years of my life doing battle in the court to establish that
when there are allegations made against an individual they
are entitled to be heard in defence of those allegations.
Mr Shatter said that subsequent to a ruling of the Court of
Appeal last November, the Guerin report had been
removed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny from the
Governments website.
That should have occurred, of course, a great deal
earlier, he said.
But the report remains in circulation. It was laid before
both Houses of the Oireachtas.
In the controversy that occurred in the last few weeks that
resulted in the Charleton Tribunal being established, some
of those writing about the controversy attempted to
wrongly embroil me in it by quoting extracts from the
Guerin report.
I now expect that the State will vindicate my
constitutional rights, that the report will be removed from
circulation and that steps will be taken by the Taoiseach to
request that it be removed from the Oireachtas library.
I hope it will be withdrawn without delay.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/state-to-pay-shatters-
legal-costs-over-challenge-to-report-on-whistleblower-claims-
35495978.html

Garda chief steps

down from panel
on senior
promotions
March 3, 17

Garda Commissioner Nirn OSullivan

Garda Commissioner Nirn O'Sullivan has
stepped down from an important internal
panel that determines senior promotions
within the force.
Ms O'Sullivan is to be replaced by one of her
deputies, Donal Cualin, on the panel that
appoints assistant commissioners.
The commissioner has said she has taken the
decision for "work-related reasons".
But sources point out that she must now
prepare for the fact that she will be a key
witness at the Charleton Inquiry, which is
examining the alleged smear campaign
against Garda whistleblower Maurice
McCabe.
The move to step down from the board was
taken this week following communication
between the force and the Policing Authority.
Ms O'Sullivan has strongly rejected concerns
about her capacity to lead the force while
also dealing with the tribunal.

The chairperson of the Policing Authority,

Josephine Feehily, said last week it had
concerns about her ability to do both.
The commissioner rejected these concerns,
saying she had put a team in place to drive
planned reforms of the force while also
dealing with the needs of the tribunal.
"We are already on record as saying we will
fully co-operate with the tribunal in every
way, and we look forward to being able to do
that," she said.
Referring to vacancies that previously existed
at senior management level in the force, she
said: "In the last three years I as an
individual, as both an interim commissioner
of An Garda Sochna and the Commissioner
of An Garda Sochna, have had to operate
on a very limited capacity, so I am no
stranger at having to operate at a limited
capacity."
Asked if she was surprised by Ms Feehily's
comments, the Commissioner said: "We
discussed in detail at both private and public
meetings with the authority and at no stage
did the authority express anything other than
confidence in our capacity to do the job."
Smears
Separately, Alan Shatter refused to say if he
was aware, when he was justice minister, of
false smears allegedly circulated by senior
garda about whistleblower Sgt McCabe.
Mr Shatter resigned from the cabinet in May
2014, a month after a file was created by
Tusla containing a false sexual abuse
allegation against Sgt McCabe.
The former TD told the Irish Independent the
first he learned of the file was when he saw a
report last month on RT.
He said he was "reflecting" on whether he
would make a submission to the Disclosure
Tribunal, which is investigating the treatment
of Sgt McCabe and other whistleblowers by
Garda management.
Asked if he had information that would be
relevant to the work of the tribunal, Mr
Shatter said: "The first I learned of the bizarre
conduct of the HSE and Tusla, and I can say
this without any fear of contradiction, was
when I watched the 'Prime Time' programme.
I think Judge Charleton is an excellent judge. I
wish him well with the tribunal. I am
reflecting on whether there is anything that I
might submit to him that would assist him in
his work."
Asked if he was aware of any attempts to
smear Sgt McCabe, Mr Shatter said: "I am
simply not going to get into that today.
http://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/other/garda-chief-steps-down-from-
panel-on-senior-promotions/ar-AAnJHp5?ocid=ob-fb-enie-60

McCabe is not the

only victim of nasty
smear campaigns
CONTROVERSY: Sgt Maurice McCabe
There was an official narrative doing the
rounds about Sergeant Maurice McCabe. It
said that the Cavan-based whistleblower was
not to be trusted, for various unsavoury
reasons, and that any disclosures he made
about wrongdoings by his Garda colleagues
were therefore not to be trusted either.
It's now been replaced by a new popular
narrative, which says that McCabe made a
nuisance of himself by raising the abuse of
penalty points, among other things, so the
powers-that-be concocted false allegations of
child abuse against him, because that's what
powers-that-be do when in a tight spot.
Neither version is entirely accurate. Rather,
McCabe became a problem to those higher
up, and they wanted to cast doubt on his
testimony, and there happened to be an ugly
allegation on file that he was unsafe around
children, so they used that, because that's
what organisations do. They find their critics'
weak spots and exploit those to their own
advantage.
It might seem like a small quibble, but it is
central to the whole affair, because there's a
gulf of difference between a false story being
circulated by people who didn't know it was
false, and one deliberately concocted to
damage a decent man doing his job.
Tusla, the State's child and family agency,
insists that the wholly false allegation that he
had digitally penetrated a child only
appeared on McCabe's file in error.
For the guardians of the new truth, it all
sounds much too convenient, but that's the
wrong way to look at it. They seem to be
saying that, because something turned out to
be useful to someone's agenda, it must have
been manufactured to be useful, rather than
that McCabe's enemies needed something to
use against him, and were too quick to give
credence to what they found without
verifying it first.

It could be that there was a conspiracy

involving Tusla; but while acknowledging that
this affair has undermined confidence in his
agency, chief executive Fred McBride
reiterated to the Public Accounts Committee
last week that he has no "knowledge, or
evidence that Tusla staff acted with any
malice of intent" regarding the false
allegations against McCabe.
It may emerge that there is more to this than
an appalling error, but thus far there is no
evidence for that whatsoever, so in that
sense the new narrative bears a troubling
resemblance to what was done to Maurice
McCabe.
As a whispering campaign was mounted
against him, so a whispering campaign is in
full flow against anyone involved with the
Guards now or then or who dares to defend
their reputation. "They're all in it together,"
goes the whisper.
See how this works?
One person has been entirely overlooked in
all this, and that's the woman who, more
than a decade ago, made the original
allegation of inappropriate physical contact
by Maurice McCabe when she was six years
old. Now she has given an interview in which
she describes the effect her involvement in
this saga had on her, as well as expressing
her own frustration with Tusla.
There was some disquiet expressed about
the fact that she has surfaced at this point,
with some even claiming that this was a
further part of the whispering campaign
against Sgt McCabe, designed to spread the
feeling that there's "no smoke without fire".
That's understandable. McCabe has suffered
horribly as a result of his decision to blow the
whistle on his colleague's unethical
behaviour. For this lurid aspect of the case to
become the subject of further speculation
must be distressing.
Equally, though, it's hard to know how any
investigation into this sequence of events by
the forthcoming Charleton Tribunal can be
complete without her testimony being part of
it.
In 2006, she did make an allegation about
something that she claimed happened when
she was six, and that had to be investigated
further, because dismissing her story out of
hand would have been wrong too; and while
the Director of Public Prosecutions decided at
the time not only that there should be no
prosecution, but that what she was alleging
might not even be an offence at all, it will still
be raked over again in the tribunal.
She also did have subsequent meetings with
counsellors in which, after prompting, she
repeated the allegation, even if she at no
point made the most damaging allegation of
digital penetration.
That the second, false, allegation gained
traction was entirely the fault of Tusla. Fred
McBride acknowledged to the PAC that
normal procedure when an allegation is made
is to speak to the alleged perpetrator and
alleged victim.
"That's part of our job, to try determine the
veracity of that allegation," as he put it. That
wasn't done in this case, meaning a false
abuse claim was allowed to sit in the file
unchallenged for far too long when it could
have been quickly cleared up if proper
procedure was followed.
How and why that happened is still to be
determined, but the girl's interview did add
some important details about her own
involvement with Tusla, and she was explicit
too about one of her main reasons for going
public now, which is that she feels a counter-
version of events is being propagated by the
media to the effect that she made her
complaint as a young teenager of what
allegedly happened when she was six
because McCabe was in dispute with her
father, and that "it was your father who put
you up to it".
She strongly refutes that rumour, in fact she
calls it "horrific", and she has every right to
do so, since she effectively stands accused
by some of being part of a conspiracy against
Sgt McCabe.
There may have been a conspiracy against
him, but she wants to assert strongly that
she had no part in it and that her original
allegation was a separate matter.
She has every right to speak for herself, not
least when everyone else in political and
media life has no compunctions about
publicly adding to the febrile rumour mill.
The problem is that listening to her story now
is being seen as taking sides against Maurice
McCabe.
Journalist Mick Clifford in the Irish Examiner
certainly seemed to be troubled by the
interview, saying that it "raised more
questions than it answered" and contained
"apparent inconsistencies".
Clifford found it "strange", for instance, that
the woman now claims she didn't want to
revisit the incident when she had counselling
in 2013 - only to subsequently tell journalist
Paul Williams that she was unhappy with the
earlier DPP decision, and later meet with
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin.
It's possible to pick holes in her story, as in
anyone's, but a person can want to put
something behind them while still being
unhappy with how it turned out. The impulses
are not mutually exclusive, and, as Clifford
himself said of the differences between her
account and that of Maurice McCabe: "These
will be teased out in the tribunal."
That has its first sitting tomorrow. Trusting it
to throw light on this mess is preferable to
pulling on the jersey of one team or another.
There are no teams, only human beings
caught up in events beyond their control. We
should listen sensitively to them all, rather
than imposing convenient narratives of our
own on their lives, because more damage is
done by those who claim to know what's
"really" going on than almost any other
people.
Maurice McCabe discovered that, to his cost.
It would be a tragedy to do the same to his
detractors.
http://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/national/mccabe-is-not-the-only-
victim-of-nasty-smear-campaigns/ar-AAnp5NF?ocid=ob-fb-enie-60

Garda trust in whistlblower charter

'will take time', admits Justice Minister
Friday, March 03, 2017
Update 9.41am: Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has
admitted that it will take time for garda to feel confident
acting as whistleblowers.

Minister Fitzgerald says the Government is working on

increasing trust in the force, after the alleged treatment of
Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

A new internal poll of middle-ranking officers has found

that almost three-quarters do not have faith in the system
for handing over confidential information.

"It's important that there are procedures in place that

whistleblowers can trust," said Minister Fitzgerald.

"In Government what we've done recently is that we have

the protected disclosures, which is unearthing quite a lot,
which really wasn't spoken about before.

"We have GSOC, where Garda complaints now go.

"So it's going to take time for confidence to build, but what
we have to do is to put the different building blocks in
place."

Earlier:
A new internal Garda poll claims most officers do not trust
the force enough to handover information as a
whistleblower.

The survey of 579 Garda was carried out over five days
last week by the AGSI - the group representing sergeants
and inspectors.

When asked if they had confidence in the system for

making protected disclosures within the force, 71% said
No.

Some 91% said they either did not know enough about the
procedures or did not have any faith in them.

"Because there has never been training, there has never

been an education process, people simply don't
understand what the current charter is all about," said
AGSI president Antoinette Cunningham.

Antoinette Cunningham

"AGSI has never been consulted in relation to a protected

disclosures charter in an Garda Sochna and again I think
that is a big mistake, she said.
She added: "If 91% of your membership are telling you
that either they do not have faith in it or they dont know
enough about it and 71% would not feel confident in the
process then I think that is a matter that garda
management and the government need to sit up and take
notice of."

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast this morning, she said that

the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald made a "big
mistake".

What is sad about this situation is the Government now

has decided to establish this high level working group but
they have left the very people that are involved in the
process on ground level out of it and I think that is a big
mistake from the Tnaiste and the Minister for Justice, she
said.

It is a very bad footing to set off on and I think it is

symptomatic of how government lacks transparency in
matters that affect the garda organisation.
Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan has brushed off
remarks by the chair of the Policing Authority that there
were concerns over her ability to focus on her job while
dealing with the whistleblower tribunal, writes Caroline
O'Doherty.

The commissioner said she had both private and public

talks with the Policing Authority.

At no stage did the authority express anything other than

confidence in our capacity to do the job.
Authority chair Josephine Feehily said last week, however,
that while she had confidence in the commissioner and
her senior team to run the garda, the authority was
concerned about the additional demands of
simultaneously engaging with the Charleton Tribunal.

I would say we have a degree of confidence, but we are

concerned, Ms Feehily told RT. It remains to be seen
whether... the accelerator can be kept to the floor in
policing and in modernising the organisation while
servicing the tribunal.

Ms OSullivan said that, for the past three years, she had
been working with a below-strength senior team but key
appointments were being made that would boost their
capacity and enable them to meet the demands of the
tribunal.

Im no stranger to having to operate with a limited

capacity, she said. It took us nine months to have
deputy commissioners appointed and, thankfully last year,
we got some of our senior team in place.

This year with the help of the Policing Authority were

engaged in a process of interviews, not just for additional
assistant commissioners but also for our executive
directors civilian people who will come in with different
skills so that helps us to have the capacity.

Separately, we will deal with the tribunal. We have a

team who will coordinate the needs of the tribunal.

Ms OSullivan was speaking at the launch of a 24-hour

phoneline for victims and concerned citizens to report
child sex abuse, both current and historical.

The freephone number, 1850 555 222, will link to the

Garda Communications Centre in Dublin but it will flag the
call as a CSAR (Child Sexual Abuse Report) so it will be
answered by personnel specially trained to deal with sex
abuse victims.

The callers number will not appear and no detailed

information about the abuse will be requested or recorded.
Instead, arrangements will be made with the caller to be
contacted directly by an investigating officer.

If a child calls, the call will be treated as an emergency

and local garda will be dispatched immediately.

Ms OSullivan said the initiative would give people an

alternative to walking into their local garda station or
phoning a station when they did not know if a specially
trained call-taker was available to speak to them.

Being a victim of such a horrific crime creates physical

and emotional scars that are not easily overcome, she
said. It can make trusting others, particularly authority
figures, very difficult.

We in An Garda Siochana Sochna recognise that we

must ensure that reporting these crimes is as stress-free
and as easy as possible.

The move has been welcomed by the ISPCC, One in Four

and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
One in Four director Maeve Lewis, said: It takes great
courage to walk into a garda station and ask to speak to
somebody and this is one of the reasons that sexual
crimes are so under-reported. The 24-hour line will make it
easier to take that first step.
Charleton: Lies to inquiry will be costly
to the public
Every lie that is told to the Disclosure Tribunal will be a
drain on taxpayers money, Justice Peter Charleton has
warned.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Supreme Court judge Peter Charleton has urged witnesses

to come forward to the tribunal. Picture: Caroline Quinn/PA

In his opening remarks, Mr Justice Charleton, who has

been charged with investigating allegations of an
orchestrated smear campaign against Garda whistleblower
Maurice McCabe, said there will be no preconceived
notions as to who is the villain and who is a victim.
The judge has now asked for all witnesses to write to the
tribunal before March 13 and said that if people have any
information, the inquiry needs your help and needs it
urgently.
Speaking in Dublin Castle, where the inquiry will be held,
Mr Justice Charleton said: This tribunal is a drain on the
resources of the Irish people, and is paid for by their
submission to the democratic structures of which taxation
has been a central part in our tradition.
Every lie told before this tribunal will be a waste of what
ordinary men and women have paid for through their
unremitting efforts.
He said that, for this reason, every action of obfuscation,
of diversion of focus and of non-cooperation would be
unwelcome.
He added that the inquiry will get on with its work and
reach conclusions rapidly.
However, it is likely that the tribunal will not begin calling
witnesses which are expected to include high-profile
journalists and senior members of the garda for a
number of months as all volunteered statements will first
have to be examined.
There will then be a short pause, following which the
tribunal will begin public hearing, he said yesterday.
Mr Justice Charleton said he did not see any reason why
parallel legal proceedings should be taken which could
slow down the work of the tribunal, adding: If a person
has a problem, that person should first of all apply to the
tribunal in a genuine manner.
Outlining the body of work he has been tasked with
including investigating claims by Superintendent David
Taylor that he was directed to encourage the media to
write negatively about Sgt McCabe Mr Justice Charleton
said the truth is bitter but not shameful.
He warned that he would not be leaping to any
conclusions: We live in a country as the descendants of a
people who value education as almost as high a virtue as
the truth. But the truth is supreme.
This tribunal is here to establish the truth: N fidir an
dubh a chur ina gheal, ach seal; black can be made white
but not convincingly.
The tribunal will be broken into two modules. The first
concerns the response of Garda Commissioner Noirn
OSullivan and former Commissioner Martin Callinan and
others at the highest level to disclosures made by Sgt
McCabe.
He said this first module would hinge on the manner in
which the character of a person may possibly have been
undermined by calumny or detraction.
Among the items the tribunal will investigate is an
allegation that Ms OSullivan influenced, or attempted to
influence, RT broadcasts on May 9, 2016, with what was
purported to be a leaked account of the OHiggins
Commission Report, in which Sgt McCabe was branded a
liar and irresponsible.
The judge asked anyone with information to write to the
solicitor to the tribunal, Elizabeth Mullan, at Dublin Castle.
The judge chairing the Disclosure Tribunal says that while
its findings may not be to everyones taste, the truth is
powerful and will be victorious,

Supreme Court judge Peter Charleton said the tribunal was

a drain on the resources of Irish people Picture: Caroline
Quinn/PA

Common sense. Fairness. Impartiality. The truth. These are

the guiding principles of the Disclosure Tribunal, the judge
chairing it yesterday declared.
Giving his opening statement at Dublin Castle on a crisp
sunny morning, Mr Justice Peter Charleton was equally
sharp in the message he conveyed.
In clear and accessible language, he outlined from the
start what the tribunal was all about basically how the
top officers within our national police force react when
concerns are aired.
To which he added: The central concern is whether such
reaction has, possibly and this is now unknown not
only been one of distaste, but of active and thought-
through malice whereby media briefings take place
against individuals who rock the boat.
He said that, if this were not enough, there was a further
question that those who do the rocking may also be
targeted and attacked as to their family life and as to their
adherence to basic standards of human decency.
Its not that Mr Justice Charleton doesnt have an insight
into the deep recesses of the Garda Sochna.
He was counsel for the Morris Tribunal. He saw, for
himself, the shocking abuse of power and criminal conduct
of certain garda. These were events, he said, which
spanned over a decade of police activity.
But this experience will not cloud his viewpoint, and he
stressed the tribunal was not a party to matters under
investigation.
There are no pre-conceived notions in this tribunal as to
who is a villain and who is a victim, if there are such, he
said.
And it may be that what the tribunal finds will not be to
everyones taste: Bonn an fhrinne searbh ach n
fhaigheann s nire go deo the truth is bitter, though
not shameful.
The discipline of the law will assist in the task, said Mr
Justice Charleton: One useful aspect of the legal mind is
that it is conditioned to look for evidence, to seek
supporting evidence, to look for patterns indicative of
truth, to not leap to conclusions and to not declare that
someone has done something discreditable without
sufficient proof.
That is the standard and we will abide by it.
Though this is what the public can expect from the
Charleton inquiry, it is not yet clear what evidence the
tribunal will be able to gather and distill and how it will
access some of it.
Mr Justice Charleton said the basic touchstone of tribunals
was fairness and balance of application of procedures
and said there should be no need for judicial reviews
which have dogged tribunals in the past.
One of the key issues Mr Justice Charleton has been
tasked with is to investigate whether false allegations of
sexual abuse or any other unjustified grounds were
inappropriately relied upon by Garda Commissioner Nirn
OSullivan to discredit Sergeant Maurice McCabe at the
OHiggins inquiry.

Sergeant Maurice McCabe

Up until now, the commissioner has cited client-lawyer

privilege as one of her reasons for not disclosing what she
instructed her lawyers to do.
Mr Justice Charleton yesterday accepted that the client
holds the privilege in such situations and only the client
can waive the privilege.
The commissioner and her senior team have stated,
pointedly, in recent days that they were glad there was a
public inquiry and that the full truth would come out.
So, is the judge now flagging to the commissioner that the
spotlight will be on her to rescind her right to privilege and
tell the tribunal what her instructions were?
A second key legal principle to be explored and
determined at the tribunal is the slippery one of
journalistic privilege the right of journalists to protect
the identity of sources.
The tribunal is tasked with investigating allegations from
protected discloser Superintendent David Taylor that he
was instructed or directed by former commissioner Martin
Callinan and/or then deputy commissioner OSullivan to
brief the media negatively about Sergeant McCabe: that
Sgt McCabe was motivated by malice; that his claims had
been investigated and found to have no substance, and
that he had been subject to a criminal misconduct
investigation himself.
Mr Justice Charleton asked whether journalistic privilege
extended to communications from their source that may
not be in the public interest and where the contact is
perhaps solely motivated by detraction and calumny?.
He said submissions will be heard and a ruling may be
necessary. But he said that before making a ruling, facts
would need to be established.
A primary source of such facts would appear to be the
journalists to whom such allegations were allegedly
made, he said. This, according to the terms of reference,
looks as if it may need to be pursued.
The tribunal has been specifically tasked in the public
interest to find out whether the media was used as an
instrument for the dissemination of lies.

Garda Commissioner Nirn OSullivan

He gave an early indication that journalists might be on

shaky grounds by relying on journalistic privilege.
He said if there was privilege it would apply to the
informer providing the journalist with the information, not
to the journalist receiving it.
Mr Justice Charleton said was it possible that this informer
privilege, if it existed, did not cover using the media as
an instrument of naked deceit which, he added, may or
may not have happened.
Either way, the existing law suggests that the privilege is
that of the confidential informant and not of the
journalist, he said.
He said the tribunal had no settled view on the matter
and would carefully consider submissions.
In their submissions, media groups and journalists will be
mindful of a Supreme Court decision which accepted
journalistic privilege but ruled it had to be balanced
against other rights such as the right of a tribunal to
conduct its business.
That ruling also stressed that the decision was to be
determined by the courts.
Whether this issue could end up in a judicial review is not
yet known.
Judge Charleton said the rule of commonsense will apply
in the cross-examination of witnesses which, he also said,
had to be both concise (with reasonable latitude) and
polite (with no latitude).
Touching on the sensitive issue of the motivation of a
witness, he said that where a person is coming from may
be germane to some cases.
In relation to evidence, he said the rules of logic and
good sense will operate, including in relation to hearsay.
He said legal representation will be afforded to those
whose reputation is adversely affected.
Mr Justice Charleton said the tribunal was assisted by
crystal clear terms of reference. He said the tribunal was
a drain on the resources of Irish people and that he
expected to reach conclusions rapidly.
In an, at times, eloquent address and quoting as Gaeilge,
he said the descendants of Ireland valued education as
almost a high a virtue as truth, but that truth is
supreme.
He said: Our ancestors adopted the motto once learned
by every Irish child: Glaine r gcro, neart r ngag, agus
beart de rir r mbriathar purity of heart, strength, and
adherence to our word. That was once our pride. This
tribunal is here to establish the truth.
Appealing against lies, obfuscation, and non-cooperation
by witnesses, he said: In embarking on this task, one can
only be reminded of human frailty and can only hope: is
mr an fhirrine agus bufaidh s, the truth is powerful and
will be victorious.
Starting his address, Mr Justice Charleton said he wanted
to give an assurance as to how his tribunal will go about
its work.
By the end of his statement, he had done that. In doing so,
he hit a tone that was both lofty and grounded lofty in
terms of his aspiration and grounded in terms of how he
intended to get there.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/charleton-lies-to-inquiry-will-
be-costly-to-the-public-443987.html

Alan Shatter Enda Kenny has casual

relationship with the truth'
Friday, March 03, 2017
Former Justice Minister Alan Shatter has effectively called
Taoiseach Enda Kenny a liar by saying he has a casual
relationship with the truth.
Mr Shatter believes Mr Kenny forced his resignation as
Justice Minister in 2014 in the wake of the publication of
the Guerin report into the handling of Garda whistleblower
allegations.
Former Justice Minister Alan Shatter has effectively called
Taoiseach Enda Kenny a liar by saying he has a casual
relationship with the truth.

Today Sean O'Rourke

'Of course I was, I was put under pressure' Alan Shatter

tells that he was sacked by an Taoiseach Enda Kenny
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal ruled that Guerin erred by
not allowing Alan Shatter to be interviewed or respond to
its conclusions before its publication.
Mr Shatter has not for the first time been highly critical of
Mr Kenny, his former close political ally.
The unfortunate reality is that in some areas, the
Taoiseach has a casual relationship with the truth, he said
on Today with Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio 1.
The former Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has welcomed
the judgement of the Court of Appeal yesterday and said
the last three years were the most difficult of his life.
He said he believed he is entitled to an apology from the
Taoiseach Enda Kenny for the manner in which he was
treated and on behalf of the State.
He said the Fennelly report had established clearly that
the Taoiseach in his account he gave to it had 'a casual
relationship' with the truth.
Mr Shatter told the Sean O'Rourke programme that he
hopes he was subject to false charges in the Guerin report
and it should be withdrawn from both house of the
Oireahctas and the Dil record be corrected.
He said a reasonable solution would be to remove or
redact the offending paragraphs that relate to him or a
note should be attached to detail the outcome of
yesterday's court proceedings which exonerated him.
He said he had no choice but to resign and the Taoiseach
dealt with the matter wrongly.
Alan Shatter agreed with Sean O'Rourke that 'of course' he
was sacked by Taoiseach Enda Kenny when the Taoiseach
told the Dail that he did not have confidence in him.
He said the 'clear message' he took was to resign and his
position subsequently was to become untenable once the
Guerin report was published.
He said he was very disappointed by the lack of support
he received from his parliamentary party while fighting a
three-year legal battle.
Mr Shatter said that there was 'never anything
inappropriate' said to him by the Garda Commissioner
Noirin O'Sullivan or previous Commissioner Martin Callinan
in relation to Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.
He said he believes it would have been 'a great assistance'
if the O Higgins Commission had been held in public.
Mr Shatter said when you know you are telling the truth
and you are constantly accused of telling lies and being
told you are part of 'crazy conspiracies' it is difficult. He
said he was mocked and accused of being arrogant for
defending himself.
He said he was the only member of the last Dil constantly
accused of being arrogant.
He said he hopes the findings of the Court of Appeal will
not be appealed to the Supreme Court so he can get on
with his life.
https://soundcloud.com/rte-radio-1/alan-shatter-1

During his interview, Mr Shatter said he was very

disappointed with the lack of support from his former
colleagues in Fine Gael in the wake of his resignation,
suggesting many within the party live in the fear of the
wrath of Enda Kenny.

He has called for an apology from the Taoiseach and the

State for the way they treated him and on foot of the
damage done to him by the report's publication.
He is most angry that Mr Kenny published the report even
though he knew Shatter had not been interviewed by Sean
Guerin, a senior counsel

McConnellDaniel
Alan Shatter calls for Guerin Report to be withdrawn from
both Houses of the Oireachtas
10:20 AM - 3 Mar 2017
Mr Shatter also said neither the current Garda
Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan nor her predecessor Martin
Callinan said anything inappropriate about Sgt Maurice
McCabe to him.
Critical of his party's commitment to law and order since
his departure, Mr Shatter said: Respect for the rule of law
has been somewhat wanting.
Speaking about the toll on him and his family, Mr Shatter
refuted widespread claims that he is arrogant.
He referred to old antisemitic slurs that all Jews are
arrogant in relation to the coverage of him since his
departure.

McConnellDaniel
'I am not arrogant' says Alan Shatter
10:23 AM - 3 Mar 2017

On foot of the court's decision, the State will have to pay

former Justice Minister Alan Shatters legal costs following
his successful challenge.
The former Fine Gael TD also received a declaration from
the Court of Appeal that the conclusions of the report by
barrister Sean Guerin in relation to him were reached in
breach of fair procedure and natural justice.

McConnellDaniel
Telling the truth sometimes comes at a cost says Alan
Shatter
10:29 AM - 3 Mar 2017
Mr Shatter resigned as Justice Minister in 2014 after the
report found he had failed to heed concerns raised by
garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

McConnellDaniel
Shatter says he is very disappointed at the lack of support
from colleagues for fear of wrath of Enda Kenny
10:32 AM - 3 Mar 2017
But a commission of investigation, headed by Mr Justice
Kevin OHiggins, subsequently found Mr Shatter had dealt
with the concerns appropriately.
Mr Shatter has blamed the Guerin report for the loss of his
political office.

Garda trust in whistlblower charter

'will take time', admits Justice Minister
Friday, March 03, 2017
Update 9.41am: Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has
admitted that it will take time for garda to feel confident
acting as whistleblowers.

Minister Fitzgerald says the Government is working on

increasing trust in the force, after the alleged treatment of
Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

A new internal poll of middle-ranking officers has found

that almost three-quarters do not have faith in the system
for handing over confidential information.

"It's important that there are procedures in place that

whistleblowers can trust," said Minister Fitzgerald.
"In Government what we've done recently is that we have
the protected disclosures, which is unearthing quite a lot,
which really wasn't spoken about before.

"We have GSOC, where Garda complaints now go.

"So it's going to take time for confidence to build, but what
we have to do is to put the different building blocks in
place."

Earlier:

A new internal Garda poll claims most officers do not trust

the force enough to handover information as a
whistleblower.

The survey of 579 Garda was carried out over five days
last week by the AGSI - the group representing sergeants
and inspectors.

When asked if they had confidence in the system for

making protected disclosures within the force, 71% said
No.

Some 91% said they either did not know enough about the
procedures or did not have any faith in them.

"Because there has never been training, there has never

been an education process, people simply don't
understand what the current charter is all about," said
AGSI president Antoinette Cunningham.
Antoinette Cunningham

"AGSI has never been consulted in relation to a protected

disclosures charter in an Garda Sochna and again I think
that is a big mistake, she said.

She added: "If 91% of your membership are telling you

that either they do not have faith in it or they dont know
enough about it and 71% would not feel confident in the
process then I think that is a matter that garda
management and the government need to sit up and take
notice of."

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast this morning, she said that

the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald made a "big
mistake".

What is sad about this situation is the Government now

has decided to establish this high level working group but
they have left the very people that are involved in the
process on ground level out of it and I think that is a big
mistake from the Tnaiste and the Minister for Justice, she
said.
It is a very bad footing to set off on and I think it is
symptomatic of how government lacks transparency in
matters that affect the garda organisation.
Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan has brushed off
remarks by the chair of the Policing Authority that there
were concerns over her ability to focus on her job while
dealing with the whistleblower tribunal, writes Caroline
O'Doherty.

The commissioner said she had both private and public

talks with the Policing Authority.

At no stage did the authority express anything other than

confidence in our capacity to do the job.

Authority chair Josephine Feehily said last week, however,

that while she had confidence in the commissioner and
her senior team to run the garda, the authority was
concerned about the additional demands of
simultaneously engaging with the Charleton Tribunal.

I would say we have a degree of confidence, but we are

concerned, Ms Feehily told RT. It remains to be seen
whether... the accelerator can be kept to the floor in
policing and in modernising the organisation while
servicing the tribunal.
Ms OSullivan said that, for the past three years, she had
been working with a below-strength senior team but key
appointments were being made that would boost their
capacity and enable them to meet the demands of the
tribunal.

Im no stranger to having to operate with a limited

capacity, she said. It took us nine months to have
deputy commissioners appointed and, thankfully last year,
we got some of our senior team in place.

This year with the help of the Policing Authority were

engaged in a process of interviews, not just for additional
assistant commissioners but also for our executive
directors civilian people who will come in with different
skills so that helps us to have the capacity.

Separately, we will deal with the tribunal. We have a

team who will coordinate the needs of the tribunal.

Ms OSullivan was speaking at the launch of a 24-hour

phoneline for victims and concerned citizens to report
child sex abuse, both current and historical.

The freephone number, 1850 555 222, will link to the

Garda Communications Centre in Dublin but it will flag the
call as a CSAR (Child Sexual Abuse Report) so it will be
answered by personnel specially trained to deal with sex
abuse victims.

The callers number will not appear and no detailed

information about the abuse will be requested or recorded.
Instead, arrangements will be made with the caller to be
contacted directly by an investigating officer.

If a child calls, the call will be treated as an emergency

and local garda will be dispatched immediately.

Ms OSullivan said the initiative would give people an

alternative to walking into their local garda station or
phoning a station when they did not know if a specially
trained call-taker was available to speak to them.

Being a victim of such a horrific crime creates physical

and emotional scars that are not easily overcome, she
said. It can make trusting others, particularly authority
figures, very difficult.

We in An Garda Siochana Sochna recognise that we

must ensure that reporting these crimes is as stress-free
and as easy as possible.

The move has been welcomed by the ISPCC, One in Four

and the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.

One in Four director Maeve Lewis, said: It takes great

courage to walk into a garda station and ask to speak to
somebody and this is one of the reasons that sexual
crimes are so under-reported. The 24-hour line will make it
easier to take that first step.
Charleton: Lies to inquiry will be costly
to the public
Every lie that is told to the Disclosure Tribunal will be a
drain on taxpayers money, Justice Peter Charleton has
warned.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Supreme Court judge Peter Charleton has urged witnesses

to come forward to the tribunal. Picture: Caroline Quinn/PA

In his opening remarks, Mr Justice Charleton, who has

been charged with investigating allegations of an
orchestrated smear campaign against Garda whistleblower
Maurice McCabe, said there will be no preconceived
notions as to who is the villain and who is a victim.
The judge has now asked for all witnesses to write to the
tribunal before March 13 and said that if people have any
information, the inquiry needs your help and needs it
urgently.
Speaking in Dublin Castle, where the inquiry will be held,
Mr Justice Charleton said: This tribunal is a drain on the
resources of the Irish people, and is paid for by their
submission to the democratic structures of which taxation
has been a central part in our tradition.
Every lie told before this tribunal will be a waste of what
ordinary men and women have paid for through their
unremitting efforts.
He said that, for this reason, every action of obfuscation,
of diversion of focus and of non-cooperation would be
unwelcome.
He added that the inquiry will get on with its work and
reach conclusions rapidly.
However, it is likely that the tribunal will not begin calling
witnesses which are expected to include high-profile
journalists and senior members of the garda for a
number of months as all volunteered statements will first
have to be examined.
There will then be a short pause, following which the
tribunal will begin public hearing, he said yesterday.
Mr Justice Charleton said he did not see any reason why
parallel legal proceedings should be taken which could
slow down the work of the tribunal, adding: If a person
has a problem, that person should first of all apply to the
tribunal in a genuine manner.
Outlining the body of work he has been tasked with
including investigating claims by Superintendent David
Taylor that he was directed to encourage the media to
write negatively about Sgt McCabe Mr Justice Charleton
said the truth is bitter but not shameful.
He warned that he would not be leaping to any
conclusions: We live in a country as the descendants of a
people who value education as almost as high a virtue as
the truth. But the truth is supreme.
This tribunal is here to establish the truth: N fidir an
dubh a chur ina gheal, ach seal; black can be made white
but not convincingly.
The tribunal will be broken into two modules. The first
concerns the response of Garda Commissioner Noirn
OSullivan and former Commissioner Martin Callinan and
others at the highest level to disclosures made by Sgt
McCabe.
He said this first module would hinge on the manner in
which the character of a person may possibly have been
undermined by calumny or detraction.
Among the items the tribunal will investigate is an
allegation that Ms OSullivan influenced, or attempted to
influence, RT broadcasts on May 9, 2016, with what was
purported to be a leaked account of the OHiggins
Commission Report, in which Sgt McCabe was branded a
liar and irresponsible.
The judge asked anyone with information to write to the
solicitor to the tribunal, Elizabeth Mullan, at Dublin Castle.
The judge chairing the Disclosure Tribunal says that while
its findings may not be to everyones taste, the truth is
powerful and will be victorious,

Supreme Court judge Peter Charleton said the tribunal was

a drain on the resources of Irish people Picture: Caroline
Quinn/PA

Common sense. Fairness. Impartiality. The truth. These are

the guiding principles of the Disclosure Tribunal, the judge
chairing it yesterday declared.
Giving his opening statement at Dublin Castle on a crisp
sunny morning, Mr Justice Peter Charleton was equally
sharp in the message he conveyed.
In clear and accessible language, he outlined from the
start what the tribunal was all about basically how the
top officers within our national police force react when
concerns are aired.
To which he added: The central concern is whether such
reaction has, possibly and this is now unknown not
only been one of distaste, but of active and thought-
through malice whereby media briefings take place
against individuals who rock the boat.
He said that, if this were not enough, there was a further
question that those who do the rocking may also be
targeted and attacked as to their family life and as to their
adherence to basic standards of human decency.
Its not that Mr Justice Charleton doesnt have an insight
into the deep recesses of the Garda Sochna.
He was counsel for the Morris Tribunal. He saw, for
himself, the shocking abuse of power and criminal conduct
of certain garda. These were events, he said, which
spanned over a decade of police activity.
But this experience will not cloud his viewpoint, and he
stressed the tribunal was not a party to matters under
investigation.
There are no pre-conceived notions in this tribunal as to
who is a villain and who is a victim, if there are such, he
said.
And it may be that what the tribunal finds will not be to
everyones taste: Bonn an fhrinne searbh ach n
fhaigheann s nire go deo the truth is bitter, though
not shameful.
The discipline of the law will assist in the task, said Mr
Justice Charleton: One useful aspect of the legal mind is
that it is conditioned to look for evidence, to seek
supporting evidence, to look for patterns indicative of
truth, to not leap to conclusions and to not declare that
someone has done something discreditable without
sufficient proof.
That is the standard and we will abide by it.
Though this is what the public can expect from the
Charleton inquiry, it is not yet clear what evidence the
tribunal will be able to gather and distill and how it will
access some of it.
Mr Justice Charleton said the basic touchstone of tribunals
was fairness and balance of application of procedures
and said there should be no need for judicial reviews
which have dogged tribunals in the past.
One of the key issues Mr Justice Charleton has been
tasked with is to investigate whether false allegations of
sexual abuse or any other unjustified grounds were
inappropriately relied upon by Garda Commissioner Nirn
OSullivan to discredit Sergeant Maurice McCabe at the
OHiggins inquiry.

Sergeant Maurice McCabe

Up until now, the commissioner has cited client-lawyer

privilege as one of her reasons for not disclosing what she
instructed her lawyers to do.
Mr Justice Charleton yesterday accepted that the client
holds the privilege in such situations and only the client
can waive the privilege.
The commissioner and her senior team have stated,
pointedly, in recent days that they were glad there was a
public inquiry and that the full truth would come out.
So, is the judge now flagging to the commissioner that the
spotlight will be on her to rescind her right to privilege and
tell the tribunal what her instructions were?
A second key legal principle to be explored and
determined at the tribunal is the slippery one of
journalistic privilege the right of journalists to protect
the identity of sources.
The tribunal is tasked with investigating allegations from
protected discloser Superintendent David Taylor that he
was instructed or directed by former commissioner Martin
Callinan and/or then deputy commissioner OSullivan to
brief the media negatively about Sergeant McCabe: that
Sgt McCabe was motivated by malice; that his claims had
been investigated and found to have no substance, and
that he had been subject to a criminal misconduct
investigation himself.
Mr Justice Charleton asked whether journalistic privilege
extended to communications from their source that may
not be in the public interest and where the contact is
perhaps solely motivated by detraction and calumny?.
He said submissions will be heard and a ruling may be
necessary. But he said that before making a ruling, facts
would need to be established.
A primary source of such facts would appear to be the
journalists to whom such allegations were allegedly
made, he said. This, according to the terms of reference,
looks as if it may need to be pursued.
The tribunal has been specifically tasked in the public
interest to find out whether the media was used as an
instrument for the dissemination of lies.
Garda Commissioner Nirn OSullivan

He gave an early indication that journalists might be on

shaky grounds by relying on journalistic privilege.
He said if there was privilege it would apply to the
informer providing the journalist with the information, not
to the journalist receiving it.
Mr Justice Charleton said was it possible that this informer
privilege, if it existed, did not cover using the media as
an instrument of naked deceit which, he added, may or
may not have happened.
Either way, the existing law suggests that the privilege is
that of the confidential informant and not of the
journalist, he said.
He said the tribunal had no settled view on the matter
and would carefully consider submissions.
In their submissions, media groups and journalists will be
mindful of a Supreme Court decision which accepted
journalistic privilege but ruled it had to be balanced
against other rights such as the right of a tribunal to
conduct its business.
That ruling also stressed that the decision was to be
determined by the courts.
Whether this issue could end up in a judicial review is not
yet known.
Judge Charleton said the rule of commonsense will apply
in the cross-examination of witnesses which, he also said,
had to be both concise (with reasonable latitude) and
polite (with no latitude).
Touching on the sensitive issue of the motivation of a
witness, he said that where a person is coming from may
be germane to some cases.
In relation to evidence, he said the rules of logic and
good sense will operate, including in relation to hearsay.
He said legal representation will be afforded to those
whose reputation is adversely affected.
Mr Justice Charleton said the tribunal was assisted by
crystal clear terms of reference. He said the tribunal was
a drain on the resources of Irish people and that he
expected to reach conclusions rapidly.
In an, at times, eloquent address and quoting as Gaeilge,
he said the descendants of Ireland valued education as
almost a high a virtue as truth, but that truth is
supreme.
He said: Our ancestors adopted the motto once learned
by every Irish child: Glaine r gcro, neart r ngag, agus
beart de rir r mbriathar purity of heart, strength, and
adherence to our word. That was once our pride. This
tribunal is here to establish the truth.
Appealing against lies, obfuscation, and non-cooperation
by witnesses, he said: In embarking on this task, one can
only be reminded of human frailty and can only hope: is
mr an fhirrine agus bufaidh s, the truth is powerful and
will be victorious.
Starting his address, Mr Justice Charleton said he wanted
to give an assurance as to how his tribunal will go about
its work.
By the end of his statement, he had done that. In doing so,
he hit a tone that was both lofty and grounded lofty in
terms of his aspiration and grounded in terms of how he
intended to get there.
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