Laura Connolly tells tribunal of human error in McCabe report

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Duty social worker Laura Connolly told the Charleton tribunal that human error led her to overlook two different alleged abuse victims named in a report. The proceedings were reported on 7 July 2017.

The tribunal was examining claims that sexual abuse allegations were used in a campaign to smear and undermine garda whistle-blower Sergeant Maurice McCabe. In 2007, the DPP decided against pressing charges in the case because of a lack of evidence.

Connolly said she generated a 2014 report on an alleged sexual abuse incident involving McCabe. The file contained an accurate report of allegations made by Ms D against him, based on a telephone call between counsellor Laura Brophy and her superior. It also incorrectly contained allegations from Ms Y, an unrelated and more serious case, which had been entered in error into a written report prepared by Brophy.

Connolly said she would have relied on the written report because a professional could stand over something put in writing, while details could be lost in a phone call. Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton said it seemed she had amalgamated the reports in creating intake records. He questioned how the allegations had been combined and how she had failed to notice the different names after correcting Ms Y’s surname to Ms D’s on two occasions.

Connolly said she had not detected the different surname in two places, describing it as an oversight and human error. She said she reviewed Ms D’s file on 30 April 2014. The tribunal was due to resume on Monday.