A tenure that was on borrowed time

The Guerin report, to be published today, has its origins in a meeting in a hotel in Monaghan three and a half years ago.

On October 11, 2010, Sergeant Maurice McCabe met with Derek Byrne, the assistant commissioner, in the Hillgrove Hotel.

Sgt McCabe had made an official complaint involving around 40 cases of malpractice and corruption. These included sexual harassment of a female staff member that was not investigated; malpractice in relation to serious criminal cases involving alleged rape, sexual assault, serious assault, and members reporting drunk for duty.

The assistant commissioner had been detailed to investigate Sgt McCabe’s complaint. He handed Sgt McCabe the results of the investigation. Just 11 were “upheld”, 22 “not upheld”, and five were listed as “ongoing” (there was some overlap). In most of the serious cases, the assistant commissioner did not uphold Sgt McCabe’s allegations.

The sergeant was stunned. He believed that, in practically all the cases, his complaint was backed up with substantial evidence. After that meeting, he lost all hope that the malpractice he had witnessed would ever be properly investigated.

One month after that meeting, Sgt McCabe was informed through work that an appointment had been made for him with a psychiatrist.

The implication was obvious. Somebody in the management of the force was inferring that this turbulent cop must have psychiatric problems. He attended and was given a perfect bill of health.

In January 2012, he made another complaint, including 12 of the most serious cases from his original complaint.

This time his target was the Garda commissioner, Martin Callinan, who was about to promote a superintendent who had responsibility for the area where most of the alleged malpractice occurred.

By then, he had also uncovered serious falsification of records in the Garda Pulse system, which effectively wiped off the record crimes that had been detected.

As the commissioner was the focus, the justice minister was legally obliged to view the complaint. He saw no problem, and neither did the commissioner. Again, Sgt McCabe hit a brick wall.

In September of that year, Sgt McCabe’s solicitor sent the full file that the sergeant had compiled to the justice minister. This included the cases examined earlier, along with examples of the treatment Sgt McCabe had been subjected to since he began to blow the whistle.

One example was an attempt to blame him for a computer that had gone missing. The computer had been seized from a priest who was convicted of possessing child pornography. Sgt McCabe was completely cleared, but had to endure a 16-month investigation in what he regarded as a frame-up. In total, the file contained around 220 different cases of alleged malpractice.

Letters were exchanged between the solicitor and the department, but ultimately nothing was done in relation to the file.

Fast-forward to earlier this year. By then, Sgt McCabe had lost his anonymity through his appearance before the Public Accounts Committee in relation to abuse of the penalty points system.

On February 5, Mick Wallace read into the Dáil record sections of the transcript from a recording Sgt McCabe had made in the course of his complaint of January 2012. The Irish Examiner was the only newspaper to report Mr Wallace’s comments, but, following the report, Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Niall Collins raised the matter in the Dáil.

Fianna Fáil smelled blood. Contact was made with Sgt McCabe through John McGuinness, who had got to know the garda from his interactions with the PAC. Micheál Martin met him in Portlaoise on a Friday evening, and Sgt McCabe briefed Mr Martin on the range of cases which he believed demonstrated shocking malpractice. Mr Martin asked for a dossier of 10 of the most serious cases. That is the file that would form the basis for the Guerin report.

Mr Martin handed the dossier over the Taoiseach, and both men related that the contents were “shocking”. Once it became obvious that Alan Shatter had sight of these cases going back three years, his tenure at cabinet was on borrowed time.

On February 27, Taoiseach Enda Kenny appointed barrister Seán Guerin to review the dossier to see whether further investigation was required. Mr Guerin interviewed Sgt McCabe on four separate days. In the course of the investigation, Sgt McCabe added two more cases to the original 10. These included one involving widespread falsification of documents, and another concerning the attempt to blame him for the missing computer.

Mr Kenny received Mr Guerin’s report on Tuesday night, and Mr Shatter’s resignation was announced at 4pm the following day. It is expected a full commission of inquiry will be announced today.