No major trawl for whistleblower files
Top Justice officials stand by stance at Dáil probe
THERE was no widespread trawl of documents in the Department of Justice after the Charleton Tribunal asked for records relevant to its work, it has been revealed.
The most senior civil servant in the department, Oonagh McPhillips, appeared before the Oireachtas Justice Committee where it was confirmed such a full-scale electronic search did not happen until recent weeks.
The issue arose after emails emerged showing that Frances Fitzgerald was told of the ‘aggressive stance’ being taken by former Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan against whistleblower Maurice McCabe during the O’Higgins Commission inquiry. Mrs Fitzgerald was Official: Oonagh McPhillips forced to step down from her role of tánaiste and jobs minister over the controversy.
Ms McPhillips said there are thousands of documents that mention the people involved over the last five years.
‘If we were to take a totally wide-ranging view of all of that stuff and land it down to Dublin Castle, I don’t think that would be of assistance to the tribunal’ she said. And John O’Callaghan, Assistant Secretary General, said specific discovery orders were made by the tribunal after the department made its own voluntary discovery.
He said: ‘There was no general widespread trawl of documents in the department. I am not sure if it was actually considered. We discovered what they asked us for and items which we had which we knew to be relevant. There wasn’t an electronic trawl that went through tens of thousands of emails.’
Ms McPhillips said the three discovery orders which came from the tribunal looked for specific information, and they were complied with in full.
Labour TD Alan Kelly said the department should have voluntarily offered to supply other material and it was ‘extremely worrying’ that there may be other relevant information with the department. ‘Is it not astounding that, all of a sudden, when I ask these questions, these emails were found. The public cannot comprehend how this is the case, they frankly don’t believe it. Do you accept it is not credible to say that this information could not have been sent to the tribunal.’
Committee chair Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, of Sinn Féin, said the trawl, if it happened, would have thrown up the most recently discovered emails.
Ms McPhillips has now agreed to a request from Mr Ó Caoláin to ask the tribunal if they required a targeted trawl.
Ms McPhillips also defended the advice given to Mrs Fitzgerald in relation to the legal strategy deployed by gardaí before the O’Higgins Commission.
She said that the department’s advice to a minister would always be that they should not be involved in any way in a case to be presented by another party before a commission of investigation.