Nóirín ‘responsible for acts of lawyers’

NÓIRÍN O’Sullivan remained responsible for the actions of her legal team at the O’Higgins Commission of Inquiry, lawyers for whistleblower Maurice McCabe told the Charleton tribunal.

Michael McDowell SC, for Sergeant McCabe, said that whatever was done at the O’Higgins Commission by the legal team acting on Ms O’Sullivan’s behalf was in effect done by the then Garda commissioner on whose authority they acted.

The tribunal is now examining if unjustified grounds were inappropriately relied upon by Ms O’Sullivan to discredit Sgt McCabe at the O’Higgins Commission.

The commission, which sat in private in 2015, investigated complaints made by Sgt McCabe about certain policing matters and serious allegations against officers.

Mr McDowell said clarification had been sought and confirmed twice on May 15, 2015, as the commission sat, that the legal team was acting on Ms O’Sullivan’s instructions in challenging Sgt McCabe’s credibility. Ms O’Sullivan had confirmed in evidence she had read the transcripts of the commission hearings so she was aware of her legal team’s actions, said Mr McDowell.

He said it was unwarranted for her legal team to argue in a submission to the commission that Sgt McCabe was motivated by the fact he had been the subject of a Garda investigation over abuse allegations. The DPP directed no prosecution, saying there was no evidence a crime was committed.

The tribunal continues.