Courts / Cavan / Report

Retired garda civil servant denies "going after McCabe" remark

Date
2018-02-07

Stage
Hearing Or Decision

Primary locality
Cavan

County
Cavan

Summary

A retired garda civil servant, Cyril Dunne, has denied telling a former colleague that the garda legal team was 'going after' garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe. The testimony came during the Charleton Tribunal, which is examining whether unjustified grounds were inappropriately relied upon by former garda commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan to discredit Sgt McCabe at the O'Higgins Commission of Investigation. The commission, which sat in private in 2015, investigated complaints made by Sgt McCabe about certain policing matters in Cavan and serious allegations against senior officers, including then Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. During his testimony, Mr Dunne stated that he never made the remark attributed to him by John Barrett, a garda human resources executive. Mr Dunne, who held a post equivalent to that of a deputy garda commissioner, said that Commissioner O'Sullivan was 'generally very concerned with a duty of care to everyone, including Sgt McCabe'. He also stated that he was not involved in operational policing issues or in preparations for the O'Higgins Commission. Mr Dunne said he did not recall a meeting with the commissioner and Mr Barrett on either 12 May or 13 May 2015, the days before the commission's first day of hearings. Mr Dunne continues his evidence tomorrow. Earlier, Marion Mannion, a special advisor to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, told the tribunal the minister was 'very firm' that the issues raised by Sgt McCabe needed to be resolved, and hoped the O'Higgins Commission would achieve this.