Just who exactly does Nóirín think she is?

FORMER Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan attempted to dictate to the then tánaiste what to tell the Dáil, the Disclosures Tribunal has heard.

She told Frances Fitzgerald that she should ‘consider’ stating strongly that Ms O’Sullivan had never instructed her legal team to challenge the integrity of whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe or raise any suggestion of bad faith on his part.

However, the tribunal has previously heard a recording of senior counsel Colm Smyth confirming that he was told by Ms O’Sullivan to challenge Sgt McCabe’s motivation and credibility throughout the O’Higgins Commission.

It has now emerged that a year after the O’Higgins inquiry, the then commissioner sent a series of emails to Frances Fitzgerald, who was at the time both tánaiste and justice minister.

In these, the Garda chief asked for her ‘full support’ in the Dáil as the fall-out began over the aggressive legal strategy allegedly pursued by the former commissioner.

On May 18, 2016, Ms O’Sullivan wrote to Ms Fitzgerald, saying she understood that the minister might have to make a statement about the matter.

She sent a number of versions for the minister’s consideration.

In these, Ms O’Sullivan complained that she had been ‘robbed... of the right’ to defend her ‘good name’.

The tribunal is investigating whether there was a plan in Garda Headquarters to discredit Sgt McCabe by raising false allegations made against him.

Ms O’Sullivan attached to one of the May 2016 emails to the minister a copy of the legal advice she had been given by her counsel at the inquiry in May 2015.

The legal advice stated: ‘It is likely that in the course of the process... it will become necessary to put to Sgt Maurice McCabe certain background issues which touch upon and concern the history of his dealings with members of garda management.’

Referring to the Dáil, Ms O’Sullivan wrote: ‘You may choose to put this on record in the House. If you do, I request that you state that I volunteered this document to you in the public interest.’

She suggested that the tánaiste should state strongly: ‘At no stage did the commissioner instruct the legal team to suggest any question of bad faith or that Sgt McCabe’s integrity was in question.’

Ms O’Sullivan said the minister should tell the Dáil ‘I wish to state here and now that I have full confidence in the commissioner’, and that Ms O’Sullivan had been ‘robbed... of the right to defend her good name’, as she was not able to comment on evidence leaks from the private commission and had been advised against sharing details of the confidential briefing of her legal team.

However, the tribunal heard yesterday that Ms Fitzgerald took the view that it would be a dangerous precedent for lawyer/client confidentiality for legal advice to be stated in the Dáil. The commissioner ‘bowed’ to this view, the tribunal was told.

A letter was sent to the commissioner by department deputy secretary Ken O’Leary, suggesting what she should instead say to the minister about the matter.

The tribunal heard that Ms O’Sullivan adopted Mr O’Leary’s position and wrote that she had to respect legal confidentiality and the privacy of people involved in the inquiry.

Judge Peter Charleton, who is chairing the tribunal, noted that this exchange of emails appeared to be an ‘empty exercise’. He asked how a person’s genuine view could be given in this way.

But he was told by former Department of Justice secretary general Noel Waters that such an exchange of drafts was common practice, with a precedent set during the peace process.

‘Full confidence in the commissioner’