Every reason to be livid with the Tánaiste

THE Department of Justice has been forced into a belated admission that it was made aware of a Garda legal strategy aimed squarely at Sergeant Maurice McCabe personally and his character and integrity.

The Tánaiste, who now admits she got an email in 2015, relies on an apparent mention of the fact that no action was required by her – but Pearse Doherty of Sinn Féin says she should have demanded to know every detail, and intervened where necessary, precisely because it involved the Garda force that she was charged with overseeing.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin points out: ‘The protestations of support for Sgt Maurice McCabe contrast with how the system has consistently dealt with him.

‘The public articulation of support bears no relationship with the consistent adversarial attack on his integrity, his motives and what he was about. That followed right through.’

The possibility that a Government would praise a citizen in public and privately fail to voice alarm at the plotting of his downfall is cause for alarm.

Because even after judicial findings that vindicated garda whistleblower McCabe not once, but twice, the Government – including Tánaiste Fitzgerald – continued to express full confidence in Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar reverted to praising Sgt McCabe in the Dáil yesterday, calling him ‘one of the bravest men I ever met’.

It was unconvincing – especially since Sgt McCabe felt he was still being misrepresented by the Government and felt the need to contact Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin to set the record straight. It was only yesterday evening that Mr Varadkar contacted Sgt McCabe.

Ms Fitzgerald’s plight became serious when it was revealed that she was told last Thursday about the email she had received in 2015 – but failed to mention it to the Taoiseach when he questioned her about they talked by phone over the weekend.

He only found out about the email on Monday night after an admission to RTÉ.

Leo Varadkar has every reason to be livid.

It remains to be seen what the Fine Gael leader does with that anger.