Garda tells Tribunal she never received "instruction" to inform Commissioner's Office that allegation was false

A garda inspector testified at the Charleton tribunal that she received no instruction to inform the Office of the Garda Commissioner that an allegation of serious sexual abuse against Sergeant Maurice McCabe was false. Inspector Karen Duffy, then holding sergeant rank in the office of assistant commissioner Kieran Kenny, confirmed she forwarded correspondence reporting the allegation to the commissioner's office in May 2014 as directed. However, she stated she was never instructed to send subsequent correspondence clarifying that the allegation contained administrative errors and that the Director of Public Prosecutions had directed no prosecution in 2007. A HSE manager told the tribunal the error, which involved disclosure of a surname from an unrelated case, did not constitute a data protection breach. An interim director with Tusla acknowledged significant failures in oversight and governance across multiple levels of the process, including non-compliance with Children First guidelines and record-keeping regulations. The tribunal, examining claims that Sergeant McCabe was subjected to a smear campaign, continues.