Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It brings to mind the comments of the confidential recipient: "If Shatter thinks you're screwing him, he'll come after you." Sergeant McCabe has remarked to me that Mr. Connolly was telling the truth in that the Minister, Deputy Shatter, did go after him. This was five weeks after a complaint was made to SIPO. Why did the Minister say that Sergeant McCabe did not co-operate? Why did he state something that is fundamentally untrue? Executives of the Road Safety Authority, to which the Cabinet referred the O'Mahony report, told the Minister during meetings with him that Sergeant McCabe had not been approached or interviewed, but the Minister argued that he had been. He was not and the Minister knows that. Nobody from the investigation team contacted by text, e-mail or telephone Sergeant McCabe in the context of his being interviewed in relation to that inquiry. That is the bottom line. The Road Safety Authority wrote to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sports, Deputy Varadkar, highlighting all of the failings of the O'Mahony report, the chief failing being a failure to interview the whistleblowers. This is not something of which the Minister was not aware. This was a live issue for about six months, in particular from April to May of last year. The whistleblower also wrote to the Taoiseach. The Minister, Deputy Shatter, knowing the whistleblower had not been interviewed, told the Taoiseach whether or not he was interviewed was an operational matter and that he would not be getting involved. He then came into the Dáil in October and accused Sergeant McCabe of having not co-operated. Does the Minister see the inconsistency?

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