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

Last evening the Tánaiste answered questions on her knowledge of the adversarial approach of An Garda Síochána against Sergeant Maurice McCabe at the O'Higgins commission of investigation. The Tánaiste also published the email of May 2015. That email is damning. The Tánaiste was notified by email in May 2015 of this adversarial legal strategy. That email should have rung alarm bells for the Tánaiste. She would have been aware of the allegations against Maurice McCabe referred to in the email and that the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, had directed that no action be taken, and that the independent review mechanism, which she established and to which this was referred, also decided that no further action be taken. She also had met Maurice and Lorraine McCabe in October 2014 where they detailed this allegation to her and the trauma it caused them. The Tánaiste was told, however, that this very case, of which she was well aware and which had no foundation, was going to be raised by An Garda Síochána before the O'Higgins commission to undermine this man's credibility and integrity.

The O'Higgins commission was established to verify allegations in a dossier re Garda malpractice. It was never established to undermine a man's integrity, credibility or character. Furthermore, the Tánaiste had legal representation at the O'Higgins commission, which surely would have kept the Department and Minister informed of what was going on at the commission. It is simply not credible that the Tánaiste would forget about this email and its content, given the enormity of the McCabe issue up to then. Indeed the Tánaiste would have been appointed Minister for Justice and Equality because of this entire saga. It is interesting that when the adversarial nature of the O'Higgins commission became public knowledge the Tánaiste said to me, in answering questions in the House on 17 May, the hearings were not adversarial; they were inquisitorial. She was flatly denying its adversarial nature.

The Tánaiste says she forgot the content of the email but it is far worse that she did not follow up on the email. By passively acquiescing she became a bystander to a legal strategy designed to undermine a man's motivation, credibility and ultimately his integrity. This has echoes of the Tusla file revelations, an episode that nearly brought down the Government at the time. The Tánaiste stayed silent on that occasion. There was no reference to this particular email. The Taoiseach inadvertently acknowledged – misled - the House last week because of the Tánaiste's actions. The email came to her attention last Thursday. It was kept quiet for four days. God only knows whether, had "Prime Time" not asked the questions, we ever would have known about this email. Would it ever have been sent to Mr. Justice Charleton if that did not happen?

Does the Taoiseach accept that the Tánaiste failed Sergeant McCabe by not acting on this email and that by doing nothing, she allowed An Garda Síochána to seek to undermine his credibility as a person to whom she said she would offer the highest legal protection? She may not have thrown him to the wolves but she allowed them free reign and that is a fundamental failure to protect a man who, as the Taoiseach said yesterday, was wronged on several occasions by this State and again in this context.

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