Fennelly Report: The final countdown to retirement of Garda commissioner Callinan

Caroline O’Doherty puts the spotlight on the events that took place in the hours leading up to Martin Callinan’s retirement as Garda commissioner, from an initial meeting at the Taoiseach’s office to review the issue of telephone recordings, to Department of Justice secretary general Brian Purcell’s visit to the senior garda’s home

The final countdown to the retirement of the Garda commissioner, Martin Callinan, began at 6pm on Monday, March 24, last year, when a meeting began at the Taoiseach’s office to review the issue of the Garda telephone recordings raised by the attorney general with Mr Kenny the previous day.

Fennelly notes: “It went on for four hours... There is not a single note or record of any kind of that meeting or its result.”