Connolly refused to deny whistleblower transcript

The former garda confidential recipient, Oliver Connolly, declined a request by the Department of Justice to repudiate an alleged transcript of a conversation he had with a garda whistleblower.

He said to have done so would have been against the law, and a “violation” of the confidential nature of his office which was set up as a point of contact for members of the force to raise concern in private.

Mr Connolly issued a statement yesterday — two weeks after he was sacked over what Justice Minister Alan Shatter said was his “failure to unequivocally repudiate the content of the alleged conversation”.

The barrister responded yesterday by saying he had a duty not to disclose, acknowledge, or otherwise comment about anything reported to him by a garda. Referring to the Official Secrets Act, he said: “The statutory instrument under which I was appointed, precludes me.”

Mr Connolly said his silence on the issue “runs counter to every fibre of my being” and that he would “like nothing more than to present the objective facts” surrounding the claims.

In a four-page statement, Mr Connolly said: “The minister and An Taoiseach have acted as they have in relieving me of my duties. So be it.”

He said he explained to the Secretary General of the Department of Justice “when invited to repudiate the alleged transcript” that “I should not have been required to validate and I shall not validate, either by way of confirmation or repudiation, the contents of an alleged transcript unlawfully procured”.

In the transcript, Mr Connolly is alleged to have told garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe: “I’ll tell you something, Maurice, and this is just personal advice to you: If Shatter thinks you are screwing him, you are finished. If Shatter thinks ‘here’s this guy again, trying to put pressure, trying to go another route’, he’ll go after you.”

Mr Connolly said there was a “personal sense of betrayal” that the whistleblower “felt it necessary to vindicate his rights by violating my rights”.

In a robust defence of his actions, Mr Connolly said he was satisfied he performed his statutory duties to two garda whistle- blowers.

He said that while it “may seem strange” he remains “an enthusiastic supporter of the minister in his programme of reform”.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties said: “It is hard to understand how the law could prevent Mr Connolly from repudiating statements attributed to him in Sergeant McCabe’s transcript if those statements were not made.”

Mr Connolly said he was subject to a “concentrated attack” by members of the Dáil, as part of their “naked political attempts to embarrass a minister for justice whom they oppose”.