State has ‘a deep sense of gratitude’ to sergeant

SERGEANT Maurice McCabe’s solicitor Seán Costello said the whistleblower reached his decision to retire after ‘an awful lot of consideration’.

Speaking yesterday to Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ’s Today With Seán O’Rourke, he said: ‘He [Mr McCabe] hopes what Justice Charleton said in his report, what needs to happen as a result of his findings and his recommendations, will occur.

‘And if these changes do occur – and I would imagine he has faith in Commissioner [Drew] Harris to do that – that changed organisation is the best legacy he could hope for at this point.

‘He is quite incredible, I don’t know how he and [his wife] Lorraine and their family got through everything they did,’ added Mr Costello.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan also yesterday paid tribute to Mr McCabe, adding that he wants the sergeant’s legacy to be the reform of An Garda Síochána.

Minister Flanagan said he hopes to meet Mr McCabe ‘in order to convey to him the deep sense of gratitude that the State has towards the service he performed’.

‘His strong adherence to the upholding of high standards in An Garda Síochána is what we, as citizens, would wish to see in every serving member. He leaves a very significant legacy from his career in An Garda Síochána.’

Meanwhile yesterday, the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said Mr McCabe has done a great service to An Garda Síochána and policing in Ireland. In a statement, the Garda Press Office said Mr Harris also ‘has wished Sgt Maurice McCabe and his family well in his retirement’.