Newspaper editor denies saying garda whistleblower was 'a paedophile'

Gerard Cunningham

The editor of the Irish Independent Fionnan Sheahan said he never told a former Sunday Independent editor that garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe was "a paedophile".

Mr Sheahan told the Charleton tribunal that he had no evidence to offer the tribunal as he had only heard "unfounded allegations and rumours".

In 2007 the DPP directed no prosecution after a garda investigation into abuse allegations made by Miss D, saying no evidence of a crime was disclosed.

The tribunal is looking at allegations by Supt David Taylor that he was directed when he was garda press officer to smear whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe. Former commissioners Martin Callinan and Nóirín O'Sullivan deny there was any smear campaign.

"If every person who heard tittle-tattle came forward and said I heard tittle-tattle but I have no evidence, you would be snowed under with paperwork," Mr Sheahan said.

Mr Sheahan said that at the time former Sunday Independent editor Anne Harris said he made the remark in September 2014, he had put a journalist on the penalty points story and ensured the story stayed on the paper's news agenda.

He said that emails sent at the time showed that he was advocating positive coverage of Sgt McCabe and he said he had not made the comments or withheld information from the tribunal.

Mr Sheahan said that Ms Harris was "confused" and could not say when the alleged conversation had happened, and what she was saying was "utterly at odds with my behaviour, my actions at that time”.

Mr Sheahan said it was quite clear that Ms Harris was "headline hunting".

"A couple of days after her statement is circulated here it ends up on the front page of the Sunday Times. It's a remarkable coincidence," Mr Sheahan said.

Mr Sheahan, the Irish Independent editor since 2015, was group political editor in 2013 and 2014 when the penalty points scandal became public, and had been predominantly based in Leinster House.

Leinster House is a gossip factory. You walk across the plinth, you get more gossip than a bingo hall on Thursday night. That is the nature of the place, Mr Sheahan said.

Mr Sheahan said there were "all sorts of suggestions that were undermining the credibility of the whistleblowers”, but there were no details given.

Clare Grady, a former editor of the Irish Independent, said that it was her job to be skeptical, and she was initially suspicious as to why journalist Paul Williams was being given a story on Miss D.

Ms Grady said she thought at first the story was coming from Garda sources, but it came from the D family, who asked to contact Mr Williams.

"It was quite convenient, I thought at the time. A story that if it was written in a particular way would fit in to what Martin Callinan had said at PAC," Ms Grady said.

Former RTÉ Chief News Editor Ray Burke told the tribunal he identified as a significant news story the O'Higgins commission of investigation report into Sgt McCabe's complaints about policing in the Cavan Monaghan division.

The tribunal is also looking at whether former commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan influenced or attempted to influence RTÉ broadcasts on 9 May 2016 in which Mr Reynolds discussed the leaked O'Higgins Commission report.

Mr Burke told Diarmaid McGuinness SC, counsel for the tribunal, that he asked crime correspondent Paul Reynolds and all of the political staff to try and get a copy of the O'Higgins Commission report. He said he was mindful that crime correspondents were often perceived to be favourable to the garda establishment, being a cheerleader or "going native".

Mr Burke said that Clare Daly TD had spoken about people like Paul Williams favouring the garda establishment and disfavouring whistleblowers. He said Mr Reynolds came to him while preparing his news report on the O'Higgins report, and told him it said that Sgt McCabe had told an untruth. Mr Reynolds asked if he could say that is a lie.

"I thought about it and said a deliberate untruth is a lie. You can say that," Mr Burke said.

Mr Burke said lie was a plain word, and both words meant the same thing.

He said it was a slander to say that Ms O'Sullivan would manipulate journalists,and a slander to say the journalists in RTÉ would be manipulated.

Garda Human Resources director John Barrett, a civilian executive, told the tribunal he had no recollection of any conversation with Sgt McCabe about the RTÉ broadcasts.

Mr Barrett said he took detailed minutes following meetings with Sgt McCabe, which made no reference to Paul Reynolds or RTÉ.

Mr Barrett told the tribunal he never said to Sgt McCabe that RTE broadcasts on 9 May 2016 were influenced by garda commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan.

"I have no recollection whatsoever of dealing with this issue," Mr Barrett said.

Sgt McCabe said in a statement to the tribunal that Mr Barrett told him "It would have come from block one, at the front; Nóirín O'Sullivan's office."

"I didn't make such a remark is the clarity of it," Mr Barrett said.

The tribunal resumes next Thursday.