How the discovery of an email to the Tánaiste brought the country to the brink of an election
NOVEMBER 8TH: Alan Kelly tables questions in the Dáil, asking if there are any records which show that the Department of Justice and the Minister were aware of former Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan’s legal strategy before the O’Higgins Commission – established to investigate and report on matters in the Cavan-Monaghan Garda division on foot of allegations made by whistleblower Sergant Maurice McCabe.
Mr Kelly asks Minister Charlie Flanagan: ‘When anyone… was made aware of the decisions taken at the meeting of senior garda management in Garda HQ on Friday, May 15th and will he make a statement?’
NOVEMBER 9TH: The department discov- ers an email that was sent to then-Justice minister Frances Fitzgerald in May 2015, detailing the legal campaign taken by An Garda Síochána. It mentions an allegation that ‘a serious criminal complaint against Maurice McCabe – which he had always denied – had not been properly investigated by An Garda Síochána’.
NOVEMBER 13TH: Noel Waters, Secretary General of the Justice Department telephones Charlie Flanagan to tell him he plans to retire and ‘in passing’ that a document has been discovered. However, sources have said Mr Flanagan did not see the email. Mr Flanagan said of that conversation: ‘I became aware of a document, that subsequently transpired to be
this email, early last week, on Monday 13th. I immediately said this document should be sent to the’ Charleton tribunal of inquiry. That tribunal is investigating whether Sgt McCabe was the target of a smear campaign.
NOVEMBER 14TH: Leo Varadkar tells the Dáil Justice had no prior knowledge of the
Garda commissioner’s legal strategy. He said the Tánaiste found out ‘after the fact’. Mr Flanagan – who is sitting right next to Mr Varadkar – had been told the previous day of the existence of the email proving that the department was aware of that legal strategy, but does not correct him.
Mr Varadkar explains that the Tánaiste ‘is in the United Arab Emirates on a trade mission.
He says Ms Fitzgerald had ‘confirmed to me that she had no hand, act or part in forming the former Commissioner’s legal strategy, nor did she have any prior knowledge of the legal strategy the former commissioner’s team pursued.’
NOVEMBER 15TH: Taoiseach has still not been told of the email’s discovery. He tells the Dáil again that the department did not know. Mr Flanagan sits three seats away.
Still no mention of the newly discovered email. Mr Flanagan interrupts Leaders’ Questions and says he hopes he will be offered the protection of the House against what he described as a ‘smear’ campaign that he said Alan Kelly was carrying out.
NOVEMBER 16TH: Ms Fitzgerald is told of the existence of the email after making a phone call to the Department of Justice. She will say the next week that she does not remember receiving it. She later explains: ‘It [the email] was that a serious criminal charge about Maurice McCabe had been raised. It wasn’t for me to get into the criminal charge.
‘What was reported to me was the allegation was a serious criminal complaint against Sergeant McCabe, which he had always denied, had not been properly investigated by An Garda Síochána. That was the allegation.’
NOVEMBER 20TH: Taoiseach is finally told of the email, which he believed to have been discovered on the 16th. He sees the email late that night for the first time after it is revealed on Claire Byrne’s TV show.
He tells the Dáil on Tuesday, after being asked to correct the record: ‘Subsequent to my reply in this House last week, I received some new information in the form of an email I saw at 11.30pm last night for the first time.
‘This is an email between two officials in the Department of Justice and Equality, describing a conversation with a third party, an official in the Office of the Attorney General. This email was then forwarded to the minister for information.
‘The email speaks of a dispute between the legal team of the Garda Commissioner at the time and Sergeant McCabe.’