Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will make a couple of points. Gene Kerrigan, in a tweet about the smearing of Maurice McCabe, stated, "Of all the files in all the world, a serious allegation accidentally falls into the file labelled Sgt McCabe". We know that the Director of Public Prosecutions decided there was insufficient evidence to proceed to a court case regarding the initial allegation made against Maurice McCabe. Dozens, if not hundreds, of allegations fail to proceed past the DPP; they are usually the end of allegations. However, that was not so in this case. We know that Paul Williams decided to focus on this particular case and wrote articles in the Irish Independentsubsequent to the decision of the DPP. Paul Williams then wrote that Deputy Micheál Martin decided to meet with the originator of the allegations and, as a result, Deputy Martin decided to send the allegations to the Taoiseach. I understand Paul Williams also wrote to the Taoiseach. The Taoiseach then decided to hold an investigation into these particular cases.

We have a case that failed to make it past the DPP, like hundreds of others, but this is different. The largest newspaper in the country takes a special interest in it, the leader of Fianna Fáil meets with the persons who made the allegations, and the Taoiseach states that he will investigate the case. What elevates this case beyond all others that failed to make it past the DPP?

Maurice McCabe is a target of the allegation within the case. Smears need vectors. Some of these vectors are people who were used and some of them are people who use others. We need to make sure these relationships are properly investigated. My major worry in this is there are journalists who feel they have valuable information to offer to the tribunal but they know if they break cover or provide the information they may never work again. The key questions for me are how we ensure these journalists feel comfortable in providing this information and how we protect them in this scenario.

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