Inescapable lessons of controversy - Commissioner’s statement

WHILE yesterday’s statement on the O’Higgins Report from Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan accepts that the gardaí have “inescapable lessons” to learn based on their shortcomings in critical areas including their dealings with whistleblowers, it has failed to clear the air on the controversy surrounding apparently contradictory references to Sgt Maurice McCabe.

The controversy concerns an Irish Examiner report that at an early stage, the inquiry was told by senior counsel for Ms O’Sullivan that evidence would be produced that Sgt McCabe had told two other officers that he was making his complaints because of the malice he harboured towards a senior officer. Documents showed the commissioner’s lawyer was asked by Mr O’Higgins whether “you are attacking his [McCabe’s] motivation and attacking his character”. The reply from Colm Smyth, SC, was: “Right the way through.” Mr Smyth said he was acting on instructions.

His words depict a picture starkly in contrast with the public references of the commissioner to Sgt McCabe whom she promoted to a professional standards unit. In yesterday’s statement, she said bluntly: “However, I can confirm that An Garda Síochána’s legal team was not at any stage instructed to impugn the integrity of Sgt Maurice McCabe or to make a case that he was acting maliciously.”