Courts / Ireland / Report

O'Sullivan "assured" Fitzgerald that she never questioned McCabe's integrity

Summary

Former justice minister Frances Fitzgerald testified to the Charleton Tribunal that then garda commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan assured her she had never accused Sergeant Maurice McCabe of malice or questioned his integrity. The tribunal is examining whether unjustified grounds were used to discredit Sgt McCabe at the O'Higgins commission, which investigated complaints against senior officers, including former garda commissioner Martin Callinan. Ms Fitzgerald stated that upon receiving the O'Higgins report in May 2016, she considered it balanced and hoped it would resolve the issues. She noted that media leaks subsequently created a separate stream of public information. During a meeting on 19 May 2016, Ms O'Sullivan expressed a desire for the truth to emerge and to cooperate fully, clarifying that she had not questioned Sgt McCabe's integrity. Ms Fitzgerald explained she sought clear explanations due to public concern and received legal advice against releasing the commissioner's legal advice to avoid setting a bad precedent. She maintained that the O'Higgins commission was self-contained and that departmental involvement would be inappropriate. Additionally, Ms Fitzgerald stated she was unaware her deputy secretary general Ken O'Leary had spoken to the commissioner regarding legal instructions until learning of it at the tribunal. She also noted that she did not realize emails to secretary general Noel Waters had a typo until he gave evidence, and staff could not find bounced error messages in the Oireachtas system.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: O'Sullivan "assured" Fitzgerald that she never questioned McCabe's integrity. Procedural stage: charge_or_pretrial

When:

• May 2016 Other
• 19 May 2016 Other
• July 2015 Other
• 2018-02-01 Publication

Why: Ms Fitzgerald said she was "getting as clear an explanation as I could because it was a matter of public concern" at the meeting with the commissioner on 19 May 2016. CNI source report

Case subjects

Topics

Stage Charge Or Pretrial

Read the original CNI report