Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sergeant Maurice McCabe is now a household name in Irish society. He is the person most central to the tribunal and its findings. I am sure, however, that he wishes that was not the case, that none of this had transpired. Unfortunately, the actions of his superiors meant that he was drawn into one of the largest controversies involving An Garda Síochána in its history. He is a man who took on the culture of impunity and the powers that propped it up and won.

We cannot overstate the impact the Sergeant Maurice McCabe has had on policing in this State, on highlighting the importance of whistleblowers calling out wrongdoing, and the legacy his stand will leave, hopefully leading to a more transparent and accountable police service in the years to come. He is to be commended on his bravery in the face of the stiffest of adversity, having met with significant and at times what must have looked like insurmountable obstacles that many would have fallen before. The obstacles that Sergeant McCabe faced were walls of power and those who were most powerful being a law unto themselves, in a way with scarcely any precedent, and which in hindsight screamed of malice.

Sergeant McCabe has been entirely vindicated by the findings of this tribunal. It stated "Maurice McCabe has done the State considerable service by bringing these matters to the attention of the wider public and he has done so not out of a desire to inflate his public profile, but out of a legitimate drive to ensure that the national police force serves the people through hard work and diligence." It further found, quite remarkably, that he was "repulsively denigrated for being no more than a good citizen and police officer" and subject to a campaign of calumny. These are very strong findings which highlight the seriousness of what was at foot and the implications and impact it had for Sergeant McCabe and his family.

It was truly extraordinary that the most senior garda in the State would denigrate in such a horrid and malevolent way a man whose only crime was to highlight wrongdoing in that organisation. If the conclusions that Mr. Justice Charleton has arrived at were stated at the time, in 2012, it is likely that they would have been dismissed as a phantom and practically impossible. Unfortunately, it has proven to be a reality.

I thank Mr. Justice Charleton for his sterling work on this tribunal and wish the best of luck to Mr. Justice Seán Ryan, who will handle the final module, on term of reference (p). My party and I accept the findings and the recommendations contained in this report. I think we can all agree that when the allegations made by Sergeant McCabe came into the public domain in 2012, we were shocked but perhaps not so surprised. A few months later, he lifted the lid on the penalty points controversy. This became the catalyst for the real challenge that faced Sergeant McCabe.

Unfortunately, and disgracefully, the response by the institution of An Garda Síochána was not to reflect upon these failings, see how they might be resolved, and how to support Sergeant McCabe, but to round on him and treat him as a nuisance to be ignored, marginalised and perhaps even vilified. Such feelings of disdain manifested themselves and were made overtly public by the former Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan, when he went before the Committee of Public Accounts and proceeded to tell it that only two officers out of a force of 13,000 were making allegations of wrongdoing, and that on a personal level he found that to be quite disgusting. The then Assistant Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan stated subsequently that this wording was unfortunate as if to imply it was a mere slip when it is clear now that it was anything but. This specific and select choice of words spoke to a wider culture of how whistleblowers were perceived within the force at the time, and the greater perception that their loyalty to the force had been breached, rather than commending their loyalty to the public which is their first and foremost duty.

While that is a mere six years ago, or less than that, so much has developed and emerged since then that it seems like a different era. So many controversies have unfortunately enveloped An Garda Síochána, that it seems hard now to imagine a Commissioner attempting to pass it off as a triviality and fringe issue. That came from a man who we now know was central to the concerted attempt to do down Sergeant McCabe. I also commend Garda John Wilson who stood by Sergeant McCabe's claims and publicly supported him when the easier thing to do would have been to disappear into the background of the story.

Jumping forward to May 2016, days after the O'Higgins report was published, further leaks revealed that Commissioner O'Sullivan's legal team had a strategy of attacking Sergeant McCabe's motivation and integrity during the inquiry. Mr. Justice Charleton found last week that this strategy was legally proper, which is his remit. Former Commissioner O'Sullivan and Deputy Frances Fitzgerald are entitled to point to that. I remain unconvinced whether it was wise or whether it was consistent with the approach adopted by the former Commissioner of being supportive, legally and otherwise, of whistleblowers. It remains my view that such a strategy should ideally not have been embarked upon, particularly when based, as it transpired, on a mistranscription or a miscommunication of the letter of 18 May regarding complaints made to Superintendent Clancy. It is unfortunate that urgent requests to engage with counsel following the row with the commission, given the context outlined above, were not followed. Mr. Justice Charleton came to that conclusion himself in page 153 of the report where he stated:

The balance of the evidence is to the effect that Commissioner O’Sullivan was urgently requested to engage with counsel over the weekend following the row but that for whatever unexplained reason, she was not prepared to do so. The tribunal cannot accept her evidence in that regard.

In June 2016, Tusla wrote to Sergeant McCabe, confirming that no allegation of digital penetration had been made against him. Sergeant McCabe requested of Tusla that all copies of records made on him and his family be released to him. In 2006, a complaint was made against Sergeant McCabe of sexual impropriety with a colleague's daughter, known as Ms D, about eight years earlier. The Director of Public Prosecutions ordered no prosecution and social services directed no further action. The report states: "That should have been the end of any allegation that Maurice McCabe had ever sexually assaulted a child." Mr. Justice Charleton found:

The false report had an afterlife within TUSLA. This was not due to any action by gardaí, but was because of the astounding inefficiency of that organisation.

He found that if Tusla had owned up to accusing Sergeant McCabe mistakenly of rape, there would likely have been no need for the disclosures tribunal. It was within a week of these allegations coming into the public domain that the tribunal was established.

There are major questions for Tusla, which no longer has the excuse of being a new organisation. It has been on the ground for a number of years. It was dealing with historical issues. Social services have long been a problem in this State but, unfortunately, Tusla still seems to lurch from crisis to crisis. Some of these issues are resource related but it is clear that resources are not an explanation for all these problems. We need to look seriously at social services and to develop a strategy for their improvement, for investment, and for retention of social workers. Unfortunately, at the minute, it is only paid attention as crises arise. The most recent significant one related to Geoffrey Shannon's report into section 12 cases.

Mr. Justice Charleton ruled there was no conspiracy behind the mix-up, stating, "This must be one of the most unlikely coincidences ever to be accepted by any judicial tribunal. Yet, coincidence it was." He accepted evidence by HSE staff member, Laura Brophy, about how she made the mistake and called it an horrendous coincidence. Mr. Justice Charleton said Tusla was slow to respond to the public request for co-operation with the disclosures tribunal, which is a worrying finding, and I hope it will be questioned further by the Minster, Deputy Zappone, and the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs.

I can only imagine the hurt caused to Garda McCabe by such a catastrophic series of errors, with allegations of the most serious and disgusting of crimes dogging him and his family for many years to come. For former Garda Commissioner Callinan apparently to take advantage of that atmosphere to discredit Maurice McCabe is the lowest of the low and, to use the phrase, disgusting. This was the most senior garda in the State, trying to make out that a prominent whistleblower was guilty of such crimes, dragging his name through the mud. Any such individual has no place in any workplace, never mind at the top of one of the most powerful organisations in the State, and the damage which he has done to An Garda Síochána will take many years to repair.

Superintendent Taylor is also damaged by this report. His allegations could be explained as some internalised guilt or such. It is difficult to rationalise but it is clear that it was a back covering exercise rather than being motivated by transparency and justice. I noted this morning that the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, offered what I believe was a sincere apology to Sergeant Maurice McCabe, and that he will meet him in the near future to reiterate his apologies on behalf of the State. I welcome that.

I note that there has been much commentary in recent days on the events that took place here last November.

It is important that, while we have entrusted Mr. Justice Charleton to make an adjudication on the facts and on legal elements of the various related controversies, it is not for him to adjudicate on the political handling of events and the political response to them. The criticism made against the Government, and against Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, were not legal, but political criticisms. It was well documented at the time as to the reason Deputy Fitzgerald lost the confidence of the Dáil, and why motions of confidence were tabled. To quote Michael Clifford in yesterday's Irish Examiner:

She had to resign because she misrepresented the extent of her knowledge about what went on in 2015, she was slow in answering legitimate questions, her briefing to the Taoiseach saw him mislead the Dáil, and her Department failed to discover important documents to the disclosures tribunal.

The performance of the Government at the time was less than what we would expect and for the sake of clarity it is worth reflecting on some of those points. On 9 November 2017, following a number of parliamentary questions from Deputy Kelly, the Department located the email sent on 15 May 2015, which had not been discovered despite two thorough searches for all information pertaining to McCabe having been done for the scoping exercise by Mr. Justice O'Neill and the disclosures tribunal. On 14 November 2017 the Taoiseach told the Dáil the Tánaiste had no prior knowledge of the legal strategy of the Garda Commissioner's legal team. On 16 November 2017, the Tánaiste was informed of said email, one which she has maintained she had forgotten, and she did not inform the Taoiseach despite him having provided false information to the Dáil two days previously. On 20 November 2017, the media broke the story that the said email had been found. The Taoiseach got first sight of that at 11 p.m. and it was claimed that Deputy Fitzgerald informed the Taoiseach earlier in the afternoon of that day. On 21 November 2017 the Taoiseach faced Leaders' Questions and corrected the record, informing the Dáil that the Tánaiste had been informed of the email a year before the public, so she had prior knowledge. She had said she was aware of the row at the tribunal but said she did not have prior knowledge. On 22 November 2017 it emerged that the Tánaiste was aware of the strategy three days before Sergeant McCabe was questioned, and she failed to act in any way. That was borne out by an email.

It is a matter of public record that the Taoiseach corrected the Dáil on numerous occasions on the days leading up the eventual resignation of Deputy Fitzgerald. It was on the back of that mess that Deputy McDonald said there was now a question about the "judgment and credibility of the Tánaiste and the Government". Deputy Fitzgerald is entitled to point to the fact that she acted truthfully and honestly at the tribunal. I bear her no ill will. I believe she is a decent woman and achieved something in the Department of Justice and Equality, for example, the Domestic Violence Bill, which she initiated and which was subsequently carried through by the current Minister. However, there is no question in my mind that the affair was mishandled. The Dáil was given the wrong story too many times, and the political decision was taken to put forward a motion of no confidence. As has been stated, it is the domain of this House to consider matters of political judgment. There was not confidence in the Minister and how this affair was handled by the Government, and the process was merely a formality.

I commend Mr. Justice Charleton on his report. A considerable amount of information was collated and assessed in what was, relative to the scope of the material and evidence, quite a short period of time. The obligations outlined for the Garda are well worth reading for any member of the public. It is an evocation of what we want to see in An Garda Síochána, and what we hope for. In some ways the report could be considered a companion piece to the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland given the vision outlined for An Garda Síochána.

I again congratulate Sergeant McCabe for putting his head above the parapet and, despite many attempts to discredit him, doing so with his head held high, knowing that he was fighting to do what was right and just. On behalf of Sinn Féin I wish to state that we consider his actions heroic. We hope he has changed for the better the future direction of policing in this country. We wish him, his wife Lorraine and his family good luck going forward, and hope they get a well-deserved rest after many arduous years of struggle and that there is finally vindication.

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