Irish Independent

‘Once branded disgusting, the floodgates opened’

- John Downing

SO, WE have at last got our first inkling from the man himself about how it felt to be Sergeant Maurice McCabe – in direct conflict with all of An Garda Síochána top brass.

But in fact the most vivid illustrati­on came not from what he had to say, but what he briefly could not say. Three hours into his evidence Maurice McCabe got very emotional when he was asked to recall what then-Public Accounts Committee chairman John McGuinness told him in May 2016 – five months after he had got a letter from the child welfare agency, Tusla, containing false rape allegation­s.

After a recess to compose himself, Sgt McCabe said John McGuinness told him that former Garda Commission­er Martin Callinan had told him he (McCabe) had sexually abused all his children and his nieces. The sergeant told the tribunal he could not believe it.

We expect Martin Callinan to strongly reject these allegation­s.

The evidence raked over 11 years of campaignin­g by the Garda whistleblo­wer begun in 2007. By mid-2014 he was working in the traffic corps at Mullingar garda station with 10 other gardaí and all of them were “one hundred per cent” in their good conduct towards him.

It was busy and sometimes days, even weeks, could go by without him reflecting on his strange situation. Sitting in his uniform shirt, with his sergeant’s stripes on the sleeve, he looked relaxed and spoke quietly.

It was the first day at these hearings for Maurice McCabe to wear his police uniform, swapping it for his customary business suit. He agreed with tribunal lawyer Patrick Marrinan that “things were good at home” back then; he had good support from his wife and his older children were very supportive.

Maurice McCabe said he had five children, ranging in age from 23 years down to 10. His children never suffered any abuse at school or out in the larger community, there was “no slagging” – right up to the present day.

Equally, he got some 400 letters, cards and emails, all of which were positive – there was no hate mail, absolutely none. But among his colleagues there was still a very marked tension which he felt showed the price of speaking out against the force’s senior management.

“There was an element that would ‘blank’ you, not speak to you. The culture is there that it is very hard to speak out. There were often places where I was not welcome at all,” he recalled.

AT Mullingar station a traffic garda told him about a man who had been stopped while driving and who responded arrogantly. The garda issued him with a fixed penalty notice. But when Sgt McCabe checked later, he found a garda inspector “in another part of the country” had gone into the computer system and erased this.

Further checks revealed there was a pattern of this behaviour.

But if Sergeant McCabe “was to do it all over again” he would never have highlighte­d the penalty points issue – he was given to understand he should not have gone there. All the real “hassle” really flowed from that point on.

After Garda Commission­er Martin Callinan gave evidence to a hearing of the Public Accounts in January 2014 the floodgates opened. Commission­er Callinan noted there were some 13,000 gardaí, none of whom spoke of corruption and wrong-doing in the terms Sgt McCabe had. “Frankly, on a personal level, I find that disgusting,” he said.

Sgt McCabe is convinced this was a significan­t moment. “It was at that stage I started to get all of the hassle. After that comment the floodgates were opened.”

In his own words he was quite simply “isolated and alone”.

“There was an element that would ‘ blank’ you, not speak ... it is hard to speak out”

 ??  ?? Folk singer Christy Moore at the Disclosure­s Tribunal in Dublin Castle. Photo: Niall Carson/PA
Folk singer Christy Moore at the Disclosure­s Tribunal in Dublin Castle. Photo: Niall Carson/PA
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