Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to be able to contribute to the debate on the disclosures tribunal. The Charleton inquiry referred to many players. In respect of Martin Callinan, the former Garda Commissioner, it found that he had engaged in a campaign of calumny against Sergeant Maurice McCabe. Mr. Justice Charleton did not accept the former Commissioner's evidence that he had not engaged in a smear campaign against Sergeant McCabe. That is a very serious finding. Mr. Justice Charleton upheld the evidence of Deputy John McGuinness, Deputy John Deasy, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, and journalist, Philip Boucher-Hayes, that Callinan had smeared Sergeant McCabe, repeating false allegations about him. Mr. Justice Charleton says that the former Commissioner's evidence under oath was found to be unreliable, and that this smear campaign was actively aided by the Garda press officer, Superintendent David Taylor, who had lied to the tribunal and had tried to implicate the former Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O'Sullivan, in the smear campaign because he was not promoted but moved to the traffic corps. Again, these are very serious allegations. Mr. Justice Charleton was also critical of the culture within the Garda Síochána in general.

In respect of former Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan, Mr. Justice Charleton found no evidence that she had any hand, act or part in a smear campaign against Sergeant McCabe but found it improbable that she was not aware of such a campaign. He found no evidence that she instructed her legal team to make unfounded allegations against Sergeant McCabe during the private hearings of the O’Higgins commission, which was investigating allegations from Sergeant McCabe into low policing standards in the Cavan-Monaghan division.

Maurice McCabe was vindicated by the tribunal. Mr. Justice Charleton said he stood up for better standards in An Garda Síochána and tried his best to tell the truth at all times. He suffered for challenging the establishment while demanding better standards and professionalism within An Garda Síochána. This is one of the most important findings of the report.

Mr. Justice Charleton harshly criticised Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, accusing it of astounding inefficiency in creating in the first place an error of false accusations of sexual abuse, then not noticing its error of false accusations against Sergeant McCabe, and finally not correcting the error when it was identified. The error was described by Mr. Justice Charleton as one of the most unlikely coincidences ever to be accepted by a judicial tribunal.

Deputy Frances Fitzgerald was forced to resign as Minister for Justice and Equality in November 2017. Mr. Justice Charleton found the accusation that she knew of the alleged Garda Síochána legal strategy to undermine Sergeant McCabe at the O’Higgins commission to be false. He clearly exonerated the former Minister and found that she had acted properly at all times and had not engaged with former Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan about the matter of the legal strategy at the O’Higgins commission, nor allowed Sergeant McCabe to be unjustly treated in any way. He found that she selflessly decided to resign in the national interest and had been the victim of a political furore, with allegations made by the Opposition which were clearly incorrect and based on misleading leaks from the O’Higgins commission. None of these allegations against Deputy Frances Fitzgerald has been upheld by Mr. Justice Charleton or found to have any foundation.

What happens in this House is often akin to the wild west in that we shoot first and ask questions later. What benefit did the resignation of Deputy Fitzgerald bring to Sergeant McCabe’s situation? What benefit did the resignation of Tony O’Brien bring to the CervicalCheck controversy? Will the resignation of Deputy Denis Naughten as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment advance the roll-out of the national broadband plan? I doubt it very much. These resignations satisfy the demand for a head for political and media gratification at the time. Often, however, individuals are later exonerated when the full facts become available. Calling for resignations is clearly popular but unless the evidence against the person is overwhelming, they should be called for with a large health warning.

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