Shane Phelan and Eilis O’Hanlon on the Charleton ruling
Judge says people may wonder why Garda Keith Harrison’s allegations made it to the tribunal at all, writes Shane Phelan
AS maligned as public tribunals have been in the past, mainly due to their expense and length, this week’s interim report of the Disclosures Tribunal demonstrates how a tightly run inquiry can reach conclusions on controversial issues swiftly.
The 97-page report by Mr Justice Peter Charleton into allegations by Garda whistleblower Keith Harrison was direct and unequivocal in its findings.
Over 19 days in September and October, the tribunal had public hearings into claims by Gda Harrison and his partner Marisa Simms of an inappropriate intrusion into their family life by Tusla, the child and family agency, at the behest of gardai.
Last Thursday, a little under six weeks after those hearings ended, the tribunal issued its report on their allegations, finding them to be “entirely without any validity”.
The emphatic nature of the findings have left some to wonder how the matter ended up before the tribunal at all.
But as the Supreme Court judge pointed out in his report, we only know the accusations were unfounded as a “consequence of the tribunal hearings”.
The exercise was worthwhile as “had the accusations made been true, an extremely serious state of affairs would have been uncovered”, he said.
Few people, bar Gda Harrison and his legal team, are questioning the findings.
His solicitor says the garda remains confident he will be vindicated in an upcoming High Court action against the Garda Commissioner.
It is worth remembering that things looked very different just nine months ago, when fears were rife that a very sinister pattern was emerging of gardai utilising Tusla to spread damaging information about whistleblowers. A number of high-profile politicians became convinced Gda Harrison and his partner had been victims of a gross injustice.
When solicitors for Gda Harrison contacted Katherine Zappone last February, the Minister for Children was confronted with this grave scenario. The letter claimed Ms Simms was “coerced” into making a statement to gardai in October 2013 alleging that Gda Harrison had threatened her.
It was claimed she was told by officers there “would be repercussions for her and her children” if she did not co-operate. The letter said that as a result of a phone call from gardai, two Tusla officials carried out a home visit.
It described this action as an “inexcusable abuse of their position”.
The minister received the letter on February 10, as the nation was convulsed by revelations about the alleged mistreatment of Maurice McCabe, the garda sergeant who became a household name after highlighting penalty points abuses.
That day an interview with Sgt McCabe was published in which he described how his family had been destroyed after a false allegation of sex abuse was circulated by Tusla to gardai.
Now the minister was confronted by the possibility that something similar had also happened to a second garda. Like Sgt McCabe, Gda Harrison had been characterised as a thorn in the side of certain elements in the force. He became known as a whistleblower after contacting the Garda’s confidential recipient, retired judge Patrick McMahon, in May 2014 with various allegations of wrongdoing.
In High Court proceedings issued the following year, and which have yet to be adjudicated on, he alleged he fell victim to a five-year campaign of intimidation after arresting a fellow officer for drink driving in Athlone in 2009.
The tribunal would find the letter to Dr Zappone implied a pattern of events on a par with the treatment of Sgt McCabe, thus making the case that the events were neither isolated nor undesigned.
As the Government resolved to launch a public inquiry into what had led to the false complaint against Sgt McCabe, there was a growing clamour for Gda Harrison’s allegations to be included in the terms of reference too.
Minister Zappone met with Gda Harrison and Ms Simms on February 15 and two days later the Disclosures Tribunal was announced.
Although the terms of reference largely dealt with allegations of a smear campaign against Sgt McCabe, two of them related to Gda Harrison’s allegations.
Gda Harrison released a statement thanking the minister, Labour’s Alan Kelly and Independents4Change TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly for helping to ensure his concerns were included in the terms of reference.
Fast forward to September and October of this year and the hearings did not go well for Gda Harrison and his partner when the tribunal delved into the events surrounding a row on September 28, 2013, which gave rise to Ms Simms’s disputed statement to gardai the following month.
The tribunal heard the statement outlined incidents of verbal abuse, physical abuse, harassment and threats throughout her relationship with Gda Harrison and detailed the September 28 incident in which he allegedly threatened her and her sister in front of a child.
Ms Simms withdrew the statement the following January and the couple would later claim her words were distorted or words were put in her mouth by two gardai.
It was claimed all of this was done to undermine their family life, but the judge said it was clear from the evidence heard that family members considered Ms Simms to be in peril and told gardai that Gda Harrison had a serious drink problem and as a consequence was capable of violence.
The couple’s allegations against the two gardai were also undermined by text messages recovered from Ms Simms’s phone.
The judge found that a referral to Tusla was appropriate in the circumstances under the Children First Guidelines and that when Tusla did get involved they did so as an independent statutory agency and not under the control of gardai in Donegal or at Garda Headquarters.
The judge made a point of saying he was exonerating the gardai and Tusla staff who had been complained about.
Such was the clear cut nature of his report, Mr Justice Charleton said the “question may arise as to why this matter was ever brought forward” to an “expensive public inquiry at the expense of the Irish taxpayer”.
He pointed out that it was fundamental to our system of justice that both sides of the story are heard. “It must clearly be pointed out that serious representations of corruption at the deepest level were made to political figures in circumstances where they did not have the contrary case, nor any evidence or documentation which might immediately undermine the allegations made,” Mr Justice Charleton said.
The judge did not criticise the politicians for not getting the other side of the story before including the couple’s claims in the tribunal, but did point out that when someone makes a political representation “only one side will be heard and accepted in good faith”.
The tribunal will now turn its attention to its remaining terms of reference, relating to Sgt McCabe. Hearings will resume in January when the tribunal will investigate whether false allegations of sexual abuse were inappropriately relied upon by former Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan to discredit Sgt McCabe at the O’Higgins Commission. What former Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald knew of the legal strategy is also expected to be explored.
The swift pace of the inquiry so far is likely to be maintained, with Mr Justice Charleton indicating he wants to have all public hearing completed by Easter.
‘The judge made a point of exonerating the gardai and Tusla staff’