Commissioner exits stage left, pursued by a series of questions

Did he go or was he pushed?

Mystery still surrounds the events leading up to the departure of Martin Callinan from the office of Garda commissioner on Tuesday morning.

As a dramatic week in politics draws to a close, the Coalition still faces questions over how it came to pass the Garda chief announced he was leaving office.

The plot thickened yesterday when sources close to Mr Callinan let it be known that he came under pressure from Department of Justice officials not to withdraw his comments that the actions of two whistleblowers were “disgusting”. This newspaper reported on Monday that he was preparing to retract the remarks, but not apologise to Sgt Maurice McCabe and retired garda John Wilson.

Events changed in the following 24 hours and he issued a statement announcing his retirement.

Sources close to him told RTÉ News yesterday that he was advised by officials in the department not to withdraw the comments because, if he did, he’d have to apologise.

The department issued a statement last evening saying that “at all times it was recognised” that the question of making a statement “was a matter for decision by the former commissioner himself”.

While not denying that he was advised against withdrawing the remarks, it said there were talks towards the end of last week on a possible statement. But “there was no question of the department suggesting this possibility be ruled out”, it said.

Those close to Mr Callinan said that, on Monday night, he was advised by a messenger of the Taoiseach that there were tensions in Cabinet over information about telephone recordings at Garda stations.

This was an “impossibility”, says Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte, as no Cabinet members other than the Taoiseach and the justice minister were aware of the issue at that point. So when the Taoiseach sent the secretary general of the Department of Justice to Mr Callinan’s home on Monday, what did he say that prompted his retirement?

It’s a question that’s likely to remain unanswered.