HOW O’SULLIVAN COACHED FITZGERALD FOR THE DÁIL
HERE are extracts from a series of emails sent to Frances Fitzgerald, then tánaiste and justice minister, on May 16, 2016, by Nóirín O’Sullivan. The then Garda commissioner sent a number of proposed versions of the minister’s speech for her consideration.
ONE VERSION
Minister, I understand you may have to make a statement this morning and I enclose a draft for your consideration.
Secondly, I enclose the advice given to me by my legal team on 15 May 2015. You may choose to put this on the record in the House. If you do, I would request that you state that I volunteered this document to you in the public interest.
My directions were at all times to assist the Commission to establish the facts and the truth and I never at any stage changed those directions.
Email: Subject: Draft material that may be of some use to you this morning.
I have interrogated this matter in detail with the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána and I now present to the House the outcome.
First of all, at no point did the Commissioner instruct legal team representing An Garda Síochána at the O’Higgins Commission to accuse Sgt McCabe of malice. This is important because it was asserted in a headline in the Irish Examiner last week and has become a widely accepted truth since. It is not the truth and the word malice was not authorised by Nóirín O’Sullivan.
The commissioner had an absolute duty to vindicate the rights of gardaí accused of corruption. Her legal advice was that the allegations of corruption made by Sgt Maurice McCabe against senior members of An Garda Síochána must be tested by appropriate cross-examination.
As can be seen from the report,
ANOTHER VERSION INCLUDED THE WORDS BELOW:
Two points must be strongly made in relation to this.
1. 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.
2. The commissioner would have no control over the conduct of legal argument within the commission. The report of the commission was published and Sgt McCabe judged to have had honourable intentions. The illegal publication of evidence presented to the commission reopened issues the commission had set to rest. More importantly it robbed the commissioner of the right to defend her good name, precluded as she was from commenting on the evidence before the commission under the provisions of Section 11 of the Commissioners of Investigation Act 2004. She was further advised against sharing details of the confidential briefing of the legal team.
ANOTHER VERSION:
The illegal publication of evidence presented to the commission reopened issues the commission had set to rest. More importantly, it robbed the commissioner of the right to defend her good name, precluded as she was from commenting on the evidence before the commission under the provisions of Section 11 of the Commission of Investigation Act 2004. She was further advised against sharing details of the confidential briefing of the legal team.
I wish to state here and now that I have full confidence in the commissioner.