Wallace Dáil claims that did not stand up

DÁIL privilege allows TDs to speak without the threat of defamation. However, there have been questions over members inappropriately using privilege. TD Mick Wallace has raised important issues in the Dáil but on at least four occasions – detailed below – he made claims under privilege that were later proven false, or which he failed to back up. This week the MoS rang many times, emailed and texted Mr Wallace on this issue, and got no response.

MAY 2016

Claim: Mr Wallace, right, names Supt Noel Cunningham and Sgt Yvonne Martin as the senior officers who misrepresented a 2008 meeting with Sgt McCabe by alleging he was motivated by malice.

Reality: According to the Charleton Inquiry, nobody at the meeting misrepresented what was said – an error in an email made it seem like there was a dispute when there wasn’t. The error led to Sgt McCabe’s motivation being challenged. The two officers are suing media outlets for reporting otherwise. TD Mr Wallace is protected from this.

OCTOBER 2016

Claim: Mr Wallace accuses then Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan of having promoted friends, including ‘her bridesmaid’.

Reality: Ms O’Sullivan later tells a Dáil committee, ‘I didn’t have a bridesmaid.’

NOVEMBER 2016

Claim: Mr Wallace claims ‘20 employees or former employees of Nama…are engaged in serious malpractice’. Mr Wallace said he submitted the names to Nama’s chairman.

Reality: Nama official Aideen O’Reilly later says Mr Wallace did not make any names available to the Garda.

JANUARY 2017

Claim: Mr Wallace tells the Dáil: ‘As soon as [so-called whistleblower] Keith Harrison put his head above the parapet, he got barraged by the hierarchy of the force.’

Reality: In November, Mr Justice Peter Charleton rubbishes Garda Harrison’s claims to the disclosures tribunal.