Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last Thursday, after almost two weeks of selective leaking, the O'Higgins report was finally published. The media management of the report is entirely unacceptable and if I may say so, so are the Minister's answers here today. Mr. Justice O'Higgins found that the internal Garda investigations of complaints in the Cavan-Monaghan division were deficient. He does not say who is to be held responsible for such malpractice but he says there was a corporate closing of Garda ranks which led to the allegations made by Sergeant McCabe being ignored. The Minister knows that the crimes involved were very serious. They include false imprisonment, assault, murder and sexual assault. It is the victims of these crimes, as the Minister has acknowledged, who have been let down most. The report is now mired in controversy because it has emerged that two senior Garda officers apparently claimed that Sergeant McCabe admitted to them that he was motivated by malice. The claim was also apparently made by a senior counsel acting for the Garda Commissioner. It appears that when it emerged that Sergeant McCabe held a recording of the meeting and his record disproved the allegation that he acted maliciously, the claim was not proceeded with. This episode is not mentioned anywhere in the O'Higgins report. The question for the Tánaiste is straightforward and she can answer it without divulging, notwithstanding that she is quite entitled to do so, the information on these issues. Has she spoken to the Garda Commissioner on these issues? Has she asked the Garda Commissioner if she instructed her legal team that Sergeant McCabe admitted he acted with malice? Has she asked if two officers claimed Sergeant McCabe admitted this to them? Has she, as Minister, asked for an explanation for this and will she give that explanation to the Dáil?

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