McCabe to help Garda unit with probe

Sergeant Maurice McCabe is to assist the Professional Standards Unit of the gardaí over the course of a week to investigate his allegations into abuse of the penalty points system.

During a two-hour meeting with members of the unit and John Twomey, the assistant commissioner, Sgt McCabe was asked to make himself available for the week in order that the unit draw on his knowledge of alleged abuse. The meeting was described as “satisfactory” and involved an initial examination of the allegations.

Sgt McCabe said he was perfectly willing to assist the unit in getting to the bottom of the allegations. The investigation is expected to be published within the next month.

During the meeting, Sgt McCabe was asked about the conditions in which he had to work in his position in the traffic unit in Mullingar, and he told the officers that things there were “difficult” for him at the moment.

Earlier, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald told the public to be in “no doubt” of her commitment and that of the interim Garda boss to thoroughly investigate fresh allegations of abuses in the penalty points system.

She said the claims would be investigated “differently than in the past” and that the findings of two investigations — one internal and one external — would be made public.

Her comments came as the largest Garda staff body strongly criticised the Guerin investigation into separate allegations by Sgt McCabe, relating to misconduct in Bailieborough.

The Garda Representative Association claimed the report accepted the whistleblower’s allegations as fact and that junior gardaí in the area had been “unjustly” tarnished.

Speaking at the Garda College in Templemore, Ms Fitzgerald urged people “not to jump to conclusions” regarding the new penalty point claims until the “full facts” were known. But she said: “Be in no doubt that the motivation and commitment of either myself or the Garda commissioner to make sure this is investigated properly — that it will be dealt with differently than to any time in the past.”

Interim commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan said she acted “immediately” when Sgt McCabe brought the new information to her attention two weeks ago. She said she ordered an internal audit and also informed the minister, recommending an external investigation by the Garda ombudsman.

Ms O’Sullivan said any infringement of Garda procedures would be taken with “utmost seriousness” and said the findings of her internal audit would be made public. The Professional Standards Unit audit will probe the allegations.

According to the claims, penalty points have been terminated even after Ms O’Sullivan introduced a strict new system last June, in which the power to terminate points rested in a three-person centralised office.

It is thought that allegations cover claims by gardaí that they were using their private cars on emergency police duty, when they were not, and that their ownership of offending vehicles could not be established.

Under the new system, requests for termination have to be checked and signed off by line managers before being submitted to the central processing unit.

The revelations in the media — on Sunday and again yesterday in the Irish Examiner — pose the first significant test for both Ms Fitzgerald and Ms O’Sullivan.

This will be particularly so if any of the abuses occurred after Ms O’Sullivan introduced the new system. She is applying for the Garda commissioner post and will not want anything that might affect that bid.

The timing of the revelations — just as Ms Fitzgerald and Ms O’Sullivan addressed the first Garda recruits in five years — put the two women on the back foot.

The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, John McGuinness, who has spoken to Sgt McCabe about the new claims, said the abuse was as bad as before. “I believe it is the same level as what went on going back to 2012,” he told RTÉ radio’s Seán O’Rourke.