VARADKAR MISLED DÁIL OVER McCABE SAGA

Taoiseach said Tánaiste only learned of Nóirín’s strategy in 2016... but officials say it was 2015

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TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar misled the Dáil about Frances Fitzgerald’s role in the Maurice McCabe affair, it emerged last night.

The Department of Justice confirmed last night Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald knew gardaí were attacking the credibility of whistleblower Sgt McCabe in the O’Higgins Commission a full year before it became public knowledge.

However, Mr Varadkar told the Dáil last week that thenjustice minister Ms Fitzgerald only became aware of the legal strategy ‘around the time it was in the public domain’.

The Department said Ms Fitzgerald learned in May 2015 about the legal strategy being taken by former Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan’s counsel to impugn the garda’s motives and character.

The latest revelation will put pressure on Ms Fitzgerald, who will likely face opposition calls today for her to resign.

Mr Varadkar had earlier praised the garda whistle- Focus: Frances Fitzgerald blowers as ‘distinguished’, helping to bring about the fall of previous Garda commissioner Martin Callinan.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin last week described the treatment of Sgt McCabe as ‘ an adversarial attack on his credibility and integrity’, saying the head of Garda HR had been told ‘we are going to go after Maurice’.

Mr Martin asked i f the Tánaiste knew about ‘ the attack on the integrity and credibility of Sergeant McCabe as per the legal strategy’ of then-Garda chief O’Sullivan.

The Taoiseach responded that he called the Tánaiste, who was in the UAE, last Mon- day to question her about the matter. He told the Dáil: ‘She confirmed to me that she had no hand, act or part in forming the former commissioner’s legal strategy, nor did she have any prior knowledge of the legal strategy the former commissioner’s team pursued. She found out about it after the fact, but around the time it was in the public domain when everyone else knew about it as well.’

Mr Varadkar’s reply has now been contradicted by the Department of Justice, mean- ing the Dáil has been misled.

Both Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party are expected to lead the calls for Ms Fitzgerald to resign if she does not offer to resign at today’s Cabinet meeting.

Last night Alan Kelly said the life of the Government is now under threat. ‘Last week on two occasions the Taoiseach put on the record when the Tánaiste knew. This is now proven to be wrong and anything that the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste or the Minister for Justice says about this now is without credibility.’

Mr Kelly pledged to make further charges in the Dáil today, but declined to make disclosures last night.

It was a year after Ms Fitzgerald was informed, in May 2016, when transcripts of the O’Higgins Commission hearings leaked into the public domain, sparking outrage.

The Department confirmed to RTÉ News it ‘was made aware in general terms in May 2015 of an issue having been raised by counsel for Sgt McCabe following the exchanges at the Commission hearings. The then-minister ( Frances Fitzgerald) was informed at that time in the context of it being a matter for the gardaí.’

In an attempt to limit the damage, the statement added: ‘As the Taoiseach has stated, the then Minister did not become aware of the full details of the issue until the matter became public.

‘The Department has not been able to find any record of being informed before the fact of the legal strategy the commissioner was going to pursue. It was told about the approach taken by the commissioner’s senior counsel after the cross-examination.’

‘Now proven to be wrong’