Paul Williams denied negative briefing at tribunal

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

Journalist Paul Williams told the Disclosures Tribunal that he had not been negatively briefed about Sergeant Maurice McCabe by former Garda commissioners Nóirín O'Sullivan and Martin Callinan or former Garda press officer Superintendent David Taylor. The proceedings were reported on 13 June 2018.

Taylor had named Williams as one of 11 journalists he said he had negatively briefed. Williams also said he had not been briefed by any garda member about the allegation against McCabe.

Williams was asked about a 2014 interview with Ms D, who had made a sexual assault complaint against McCabe in 2006. The Director of Public Prosecutions dismissed the complaint as not constituting a crime. Williams said he rang Taylor after the interview to confirm details of the complaint and the Garda investigation. He said Taylor confirmed some details, but he did not consider the confirmation part of a smear.

Williams disputed Taylor's evidence that he had called him from Ms D's house and said “guess where I am”. Williams said phone records showed they did not speak on the day of the visit. Taylor's counsel also said the superintendent maintained there had been prior communications with Williams about the allegation in 2013; Williams said that was not true.

RTÉ journalist Paul Reynolds separately told the tribunal that he had never spoken to Professor Colum Kenny about McCabe. The inquiry adjourned for the day, and Reynolds was due to return the following day when television broadcasts would be played.