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

The State created a falsehood around Maurice McCabe. That falsehood was that he was a paedophile. Furthermore, elements of the State sought to base an entire legal strategy around this falsehood. They codified a lie as a legal strategy to destroy a man who was asking honourable and decent questions. The manner in which they did so was calculated and cold. We are faced with the reality that it was not just one person who set out to destroy Maurice McCabe. It might not even have been one organisation. It looks like three different institutions had a hand in the efforts to destroy him. There are serious questions to be asked about the role of the Office of the Attorney General in this regard. One of the emails that were discovered recently shows that the Department of Justice and Equality discussed with the Office of the Attorney General the legal strategy for the case and whether the Minister could intervene.

Up to now, most of the focus has been on whether the then Minister should have intervened and on whether she knew. My party has dealt with those issues. It concerns me that the Minister and the Office of the Attorney General both knew about the strategy and seemed to be fine with it. I will remind the House of the details of the strategy. It involved calling a whistleblower a paedophile in order to destroy him. The Office of the Attorney General knew about this. It discussed the strategy and sat down with the Department of Justice and Equality to weigh up its pros and cons. It seems that elements within the Office of the Attorney General accepted it. The only reason we know about all of this is because Maurice McCabe had the foresight to record his meeting with two gardaí. That tape is the only reason Maurice McCabe's reputation is not in tatters. The only variable that was not expected by the people involved in this was the variable that saved Maurice McCabe's reputation. This incredible act of brilliance and self-preservation has shone a light into the darkness at the heart of the State.

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