Fair is fair but not in case of Guerin review

The Guerin review of Sgt McCabe’s allegations is full of procedural unfairness and should not have resulted in a minister having to resign, writes former adviser to Alan Shatter, Tom Cooney.

IN HIS review of the handling by the garda authorities of Sergeant McCabe’s allegations of garda wrongdoing, Sean Guerin SC inquired in an at-first-sight approach into the role of then justice minister Alan Shatter.

Mr Guerin asserts Mr Shatter seemed unable ‘to heed’ Sergeant McCabe’s complaints. His review suggests Mr Shatter did not take seriously enough Sgt McCabe’s complaints about the Garda Commissioner, that he simply accepted the commissioner’s view that the sergeant’s complaints had been investigated properly by An Garda Síochána, and that he did not engage in a reasoned exercise of his statutory functions in relation to the sergeant’s request for an independent inquiry.