We’re still unsure what kind of Brexit is coming down the line after two years

LAST week’s two-part RTE Primetime special on whistleblower Maurice McCabe was compelling viewing.

For those who had followed the saga over the years, most of the detail was already known and there was not too much in the way of revelation, however the documentary went behind the details and headlines and looked at the impact it had on Maurice McCabe personally, his wife Lorraine and their family.

What came out of the documentary was the strength of the man, his immense character and resilience in the face of huge pressure that would have broken a lesser man.

Former Sergeant Maurice McCabe was not the only impressive character as his wife, Lorraine was a rock of love and support throughout a horrific number of years in which his character and career was threatened by completely false allegations of the most vile nature.

That the McCabe family withstood all that was thrown at them and emerged the other side is remarkable. Not many would have been so fortunate.

Their ordeal could have had a much more tragic outcome, when you consider the sustained pressure they were subjected to.

It doesn’t about.

The two-part documentary, narrated by journalist Katie Hannon who has done remarkable work on this story for a number of years, featured a clip of Maurice McCabe and fellow Garda whistleblower John Wilson accepting an award at the People of the Year Awards in 2014. Maurice McCabe’s family, his wife, his five children and his father were present at the awards.

Having come through an ordeal at that point, he must have thought on that night that the worst was over, he had emerged vindicated and the award was bear thinking

THEY WERE TAKEN TO THE VERY EDGE OF WHAT ANY PERSON OR FAMILY COULD SUSTAIN

a public manifestation that he was believed as an honourable man. It is horrific to think what he had already endured at the hands of the organisation that he worked for, was only a forerunner of what was ahead of him and his family.

Maurice and Lorraine McCabe are remarkable people and in allowing this documentary access to their home, they have again shown that they have absolutely nothing to hide or fear. They were taken to the very edge of what any person or family could sustain by one of the most powerful bodies in this State.

They could quite easily have buckled and cracked in the face of such unrelenting and sustained vile allegations.

They have done us all a huge service and we wish their family a more peaceful future away from the public spotlight. BREXIT rumbles along but are we finally getting to the crunch point?

At times since the Brexit campaign commenced and the outcome of the referendum was determined it has been like ground-hog day with no end apparently in sight and no sign of any progress being made.

Last week however the political drama was fever pitch and it was unmissable from the leaks that both the UK Government and the EU had reached a deal that they would recommend to their respective sides.

The cabinet meeting in Downing Street went on and on. It seemed that the world had stopped as it awaited the outcome of that cabinet meeting. Certainly all eyes in the UK, Ireland and much of Europe was on that famous door and the microphone outside Number 10, awaiting the outcome of the cabinet deliberations. Would the Brexiteers win out or would they support the deal.

Prime Minister’s Theresa May has since won admiration for her stubbornness, and steadiness at the helm. She has a deal, she is sticking to it, is going nowhere and stood in the House of Commons for three hours answering questions from all comers.

She then took all the questions the media could throw at her at a press conference on Thursday evening and then on Friday morning she faced the public, taking questions on a LBC radio show.

In less than 24 hours she had faced her opponents on both sides of the Houses of Commons, the media and the public. They fired all the brickbats they could her way and she remained standing and resolute.

Meanwhile there were resignations from her cabinet, with chief agitator JacobRees Mogg holding court with the media after he signed his letter seeking a motion of no confidence in his Prime Minister. Still on Monday morning there was no sign of the Brexiteers reaching a required 48 letters to seek to remove Theresa May.

In the intervening days the momentum seems to have swung somewhat in favour of the proposed deal, however imperfect it may be, with business interests in the UK giving a qualified endorsement of the deal, while there was a big shift in public opinion in Northern Ireland when the Ulster Farmers Union backed the deal, leaving the DUP more and more isolated as the lone voice in the wilderness crying foul.

Getting the deal approved in Parliament in December still seems an unlikely task, but now that the deal there for all to read in black and white, there seems to be a willingness just to get on with it and move on.

That is the practical approach amongst the ordinary members of the public and the business community. Having a practical approach is not something you can rely upon amongst the Brexiteers who seem miffed that the deal means having to compromise, while Labour remain a cuckoo-land, unwilling to end the impasse by backing the deal.

For us in Ireland the deal seems a sensible and practical outcome,but we remain stuck in neutral until the UK act decisively.

Until then all we can do is sit back and watch the British tear themselves apart over a process they themselves started.