CALLINAN ‘USED ME TO SPREAD FALSEHOODS’
CELEBRITY solicitor Gerald Kean has acknowledged that former commissioner Martin Callinan used him as a ‘conduit’ to broadcast incorrect information about Sergeant Maurice McCabe.
Mr Kean told the Disclosures Tribunal how he had been invited to appear on the Marian Finucane radio show on January 26, 2014, to discuss the news topics of the day.
The tribunal heard Mr Kean wrongly stated on the show that Sgt McCabe had not cooperated with an inquiry about penalty points, and had said the whistleblower had committed a criminal act in leaking information to politicians.
Mr Kean said he had four calls with Mr Callinan the day before the show, and two calls on the morning before he went on air, as well as receiving three texts.
He said the senior garda ‘told me Sgt McCabe did not cooperate in any way, shape or form with the investigation... I asked him on three or four occasions, “So he’s not cooperating at all?” And he said, “No, he’s not”.’
He said he raised the issue of Sgt McCabe ‘spoonfeeding’ information to politicians, and Mr Callinan had confirmed this.
He said Mr Callinan described Sgt McCabe as ‘troublesome’, ‘obstructive’ and ‘difficult’.
Immediately after the radio show, he said a producer told him that Sgt McCabe had complained that Mr Kean’s allegations were wrong.
Mr Kean immediately called Mr Callinan to check the information, but the senior Garda officer ‘did not back down’.
Mr Kean told the Tribunal: ‘I mistakenly, or otherwise believed, that the commissioner was someone beyond reproach.’
He added: ‘I can understand how someone might feel that I was acting as his mouthpiece but I didn’t feel it at the time.’
When asked by counsel for Sgt McCabe if he had been ‘a conduit for incorrect information’ being put into the public domain about Sgt McCabe, he said: ‘I believe that is correct, now.’