Top gardaí hit back at claims by McCabe

Garda management has hit back at claims by whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe that he was not directed to co-operate with an internal inquiry and that no attempts were made to seek his input.

As Justice Minister Alan Shatter prepares for a fresh grilling in the Dáil today over his handling of the affair, senior gardaí said “several attempts” were made to contact Sgt McCabe, in addition to two directives from Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. Those directives — delivered last November and December — ordered the sergeant to stop accessing and distributing data from the Garda Pulse computer system and invited him to bring his concerns to an investigation set up specifically to examine his allegations.

However, he was not interviewed as part of the investigation, which was published last May. Last October, Mr Shatter told the Dáil Sgt McCabe “didn’t co-operate” with the O’Mahony investigation.