FITZGERALD FIGHTING FOR HER JOB OVER McCABE EMAIL
Tánaiste lambasted in Dáil over failure to act on then Garda chief’s ‘dishonest strategy’
TÁNAISTE Frances Fitzgerald was last night fighting for her political career after she came under sustained attack in the Dáil over the Maurice McCabe scandal.
The row centred on when she became aware of a Garda plan to discredit the whistleblower by raising untrue allegations of ‘sexual misconduct’. Ms Fitzgerald was also criticised for not intervening in what was described in the Dáil as a ‘fundamentally dishonest strategy’ being overseen by former Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan.
The former justice minister had last week told the Taoiseach she only became aware of the strategy in May last year when it became
public knowledge. But an email, which was published last night, reveals she was told in May 2015 – a full year earlier – about the plans by gardaí to attack the character of Sergeant McCabe during the O’Higgins Commission that was set up to investigate allegations made by the whistleblower.
This means Taoiseach Leo Varadkar misled the Dáil last week on the timeline of the scandal after being provided with incorrect information by his minister.
Ms Fitzgerald, who is now Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, faced an intense salvo of questions in the Dáil last night over the timeline of events and what she knew about the plan to discredit the whistleblower.
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said the Tánaiste ‘did nothing’ after being told Nóirín O’Sullivan was instructing her counsel to make allegations of ‘sexual misconduct’ that had already been dismissed by the DPP.
Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan said the email had ‘clearly highlighted’ that an adversarial and ‘very confrontational’ approach was being taken against a Garda whistleblower.
Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin told the Tánaiste: ‘You should have acted. You surely should have intervened with the Garda commissioner.
‘The Garda Síochána Act says the commissioner is legally accountable to you.’
Indeed, the Tánaiste had been a member of a government that had already expressed support for Sgt McCabe, as Mr Varadkar had described the whistleblower as ‘distinguished’ in 2014.
Ms Fitzgerald’s lack of intervention after receiving the 2015 email, which she claims she didn’t remember receiving, flew in the face of such support, according to TDs. Mr Howlin claimed Ms O’Sullivan and the Tánaiste had also been publicly lauding Sgt McCabe at the time, while the then Garda chief was also plotting to discredit him at the Commission. This, he said was a ‘fundamentally dishonest strategy’.
‘The Taoiseach stated the Tánaiste had informed him she only became aware of the legal strategy against Sgt McCabe around the time it entered the public domain,’ Mr Howlin told the Dáil. ‘That is, quite simply, not true and this is not a small matter. The legal strategy was designed to fundamentally discredit Sgt Maurice McCabe and subvert the course of justice, a matter of enormous importance. This good man could have been destroyed.’
He added: ‘At the same time the Garda commissioner was instructing her lawyers to discredit Sgt McCabe, she and the Tánaiste were publicly lauding him.
‘The strategy was fundamentally dishonest.’
Ms Fitzgerald admitted she received an email in May 2015 about a row between the gardaí and Sgt McCabe’s legal representatives at the O’Higgins Commission – but says she forgot about it. She claimed yesterday it referred to a serious criminal charge made against Sgt McCabe but also said it was not for her to get involved.
The Taoiseach said he did not have first-hand knowledge of any of these matters. He said he only saw the email at 11.30pm on Monday, despite Ms Fitzgerald having sight of it last Thursday.
It later emerged that they had had a conversation in the interim, while the Tánaiste was in Boston, but she had not mentioned the email to him.
In the Dáil yesterday, Mr Varadkar said: ‘I want to say Sgt McCabe is somebody who I have had dealings with. I met him when I was minister for transport, tourism and sport when he made allegations relating to penalty points.
‘He is one of the bravest people that I have ever encountered in public life and he is somebody who has been very much wronged by the State on a number of occasions because of his bravery and because of his willingness to shine a light into some dark places.’
Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin called for the email to be published, but the Taoiseach said he would have to take legal advice. The email was subsequently released.
Ms Fitzgerald said the suggestion and innuendo was out there that the Government was ‘colluding’ in the legal approach taken by the commissioner, but this was not the case.
The legal strategy is now under examination by the Disclosures tribunal, she said, but the overall strategy was not apparent from the email – simply an issue that had arisen at the hearings.
‘Good man could’ve been destroyed’