Solicitor described McCabe integrity question as ‘political dynamite’

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

A state solicitor told the Charleton Tribunal she had seen “trouble brewing” when barristers representing the Garda commissioner challenged Sergeant Maurice McCabe’s integrity at the O’Higgins inquiry. The proceedings were reported on 17 January 2018.

Ann Marie Ryan told the tribunal: “I thought it was highly political before I came on board, I could see trouble brewing.”

Ryan wrote “Political dynamite!!” in a note after senior counsel Colm Smyth raised McCabe’s credibility and integrity on 15 May 2015, the second day of evidence at the O’Higgins inquiry.

Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton said Judge Kevin O’Higgins had found that McCabe was not at fault in the cases he highlighted. The tribunal was examining whether false allegations of sexual abuse or other unjustified grounds had been improperly relied on to discredit McCabe, and it continued.