The ‘Grand Inquisitor’ faced 10 hours of questions – about his own questions

THIS was a dramatic case of role reversal. John McGuinness was renowned over the years 2011-2016 as the ‘Grand Inquisitor’ chairing the taxpayers’ watchdog Public Accounts Committee, assertively trying to take it into new areas.

For the past two days he faced almost 10 hours of questioning at the Charleton tribunal. Counsel for gardaí, especially barrister Mícheál O’Higgins, acting for former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan and others, zoned in on four points.

1. Did he take notes of a contentious meeting with commissioner Callinan? On Monday he recalled he had jotted down some very short points on his way home in January 2014. But in an RTÉ interview in May 2016 he said he had no notes and no recording. In response, he argued he understood the RTÉ questions were about detailed notes which he had not taken, merely “short, snappy notes”.

2. Did he tell his Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, about this meeting? In testimony on Monday, he recalled talking to Mr Martin about the issue in February 2014. Yesterday that same interview with RTÉ’s Richard Crowley in 2016 cited him saying he had not spoken to Mr Martin on the matter. Mr McGuinness said he had only recalled the discussion with Mr Martin when he saw a letter from him about it.

3. What prompted Mr McGuinness to include “a horse anecdote” concerning another whistleblower, Garda John Wilson, in later tribunal statements – but not in an earlier one? The lawyer suggested it was in response to contested allegations by Mr Callinan that he had himself described Gda Wilson as “a header”.

Mr McGuinness said the first statement was based on questions mainly about Sgt McCabe and later questions extended to Gda Wilson.

4. Did heavy rain cause the controversial meeting between Mr Callinan and Mr McGuinness to happen in his car rather than inside the hotel? The garda cited lawyer Fianna Fáil colleague Seán Fleming as saying Mr McGuinness had told him this was the reason the contested conversation happened in the car – rather than inside the hotel.

Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Charleton intervened to say one did not have to be a fan of the classic Japanese filmmaker Kurosawa to know rain.