Whistleblower ‘now has the State over a barrel’

Maurice Mccabe has the ‘State over a barrel’ and could be awarded as much as €4m in compensation, a legal source has told the irish Mail on Sunday.

The legal expert said any figure was at best speculative but added that it was not a case the State could easily defend ‘so, in that sense, Mccabe has the State over a barrel’.

The expert pointed to the case of Donegal publican Frank Shortt, who was wrongly convicted in 1995 of allowing the sale of drugs at his premises in Quigley’s Point after two gardaí concocted false evidence against him.

The Supreme court more than doubled the award given to Mr Shortt in 2007 from €1.9m to €4.5m.

Sgt Mccabe is suing Tusla after the agency sent papers containing false claims of child sex abuse to the gardaí. He is also suing the Garda Síochana.

Tusla this week apologised to Sgt Mccabe – as has the HSe – after it emerged that one of its counsellors wrongly made damning allegations about him in a bizarre ‘cut and paste’ error. any award would be based on general damage to reputation, stress and breach of constitutional rights. Further compensation might be considered for aggravated damages.

ultimately, if it is shown that a conspiracy existed against Sgt Mccabe, he would be expected to get very significant damages under this heading.

‘The length of time in which Mccabe and his family endured the State’s conduct would also be a factor.’

Other factors to be taken into account include incriminating documents – in Sgt Mccabe’s case, the Tusla file.

‘if it is found that the file was not accidental but deliberate – that is, malice – this would in turn raise it into the level of a criminal conspiracy and any award of aggravated or exemplary damages could be multiples of what would otherwise be awarded.’

exemplary damages might also be imposed. These are not primarily to compensate the plaintiff but to punish the defendant. essentially, they are imposed for the benefit of society.