Tribunal considers whether Ms D should give evidence in public

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

The Charleton tribunal was considering whether Ms D, who made a child sexual assault allegation against Sergeant Maurice McCabe, should give evidence in public or private. The proceedings were reported on 13 July 2017.

Ms D and her family were scheduled to give evidence on Monday to the tribunal, which was investigating an alleged smear campaign against Sgt McCabe.

The allegation had been investigated by gardaí in 2006. The DPP decided against pressing charges in 2007 because of a lack of evidence. A Tusla file was opened after Ms D sought counselling in 2013, and allegations from an unrelated case were wrongly added to it.

Niall Buckley, barrister for Ms D and her family, sought restrictions on identifying or photographing them and on reporting identifying details. He also sought redactions to transcripts and restrictions on testimony that might not be relevant to the tribunal’s terms of reference.

Michael McDowell SC, for Sgt McCabe, said nobody needed to be excluded and the evidence should be heard in public. Lawyers for media organisations said they had no interest or desire in identifying or photographing Ms D or her family. Mr Justice Peter Charleton said he would consider the submissions before giving his decision.