Charleton’s task will be to decide credibility of two ex-commissioners

DAY two of Sergeant Maurice McCabe’s first-time public evidence saw emotion replaced by strong legal challenge. And as Maurice McCabe ruefully noted, soon it will come down to who Mr Justice Peter Charleton believes.

Judge Charleton, in his unfailingly courteous way, noted there was “a chasm” between Sgt McCabe’s recall of what the former head of the Garda press office, Superintendent David Taylor, had to tell him in 2016 and the version outlined yesterday by Supt Taylor’s law yer.

A key difference was Sgt McCabe believed Supt Taylor had told him former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan used to text defamatory comments about Sgt McCabe to the chief press officer. These were to be relayed to certain journalists, politicians and senior gardaí.

Supt Taylor’s recall is that any texts he received from thencommissioner Callinan were about Sgt McCabe’s media appearances and references.

Sgt McCabe recalls Supt Taylor telling him Mr Callinan’s successor, Nóirín O’Sullivan, was “the pusher” in an alleged smear campaign against him. But Supt Taylor recalls that term as relating to her determination to have himself face charges.

Judge Charleton and one of the counsel for gardaí, Shane Murphy, took a few opportunities to note that both former commissioners have filed statements strongly rejecting these versions of events.

But it is clear that deciding on the extent of the two commissioners’ credibility will be one of Mr Justice Charleton’s tasks.

There were other variations in how Supt Taylor recalled his conversation with Sgt McCabe. But through all this, he was adamant he stood by his own version of things.

There was far less contention, for now at least, about another key allegation to emerge from these two days of evidence. On Monday Sgt McCabe recalled his total disarray when being told by then-Public Accounts Committee chairman John McGuinness that Commissioner Callinan had alleged Sgt McCabe was not to be trusted as he had sexually abused his own children and nieces.

There was a brief intake of breath just before lunch, when barrister Darren Lehane announced he was acting under instructions from John McGuinness. That tension was short-lived as Mr Lehane said Mr McGuinness essentially bore out Sgt McCabe’s version of that strange conversation with Mr Callinan.

There was only one minor variation; Mr McGuinness did not recall the former commissioner saying Sgt McCabe had abused “all his children” – just “his children”.

Here again, the tribunal will hear that Mr Callinan utterly rejects this allegation.

But this was also a day of apologies to Sgt McCabe for past wrongs done to him, apologies which were accepted by him.

During the morning session there was a short apology by the barrister Paul Anthony McDermott for the child welfare agency Tusla.

In the afternoon, a lawyer for the Health Service Executive delivered an almost identical apology.