Thursday, March 09, 2017

Lawyers for whistleblower Maurice McCabe have demanded that the Garda Commissioner be removed from her post.

They have written to the Justice Minister explaining why Nóirín O’Sullivan shouldn’t be working during the Disclosure Tribunal.

Their reasons include the fact that she has access to full Garda resources in preparation for what is a personal case.

Irish Examiner journalist Mick Clifford, who broke the story, said that the letter may have a real impact.

"The reason, I would suggest, that we’re having a tribunal as opposed to a private inquiry, the accelerator for that was when Sergeant McCabe issued a statement calling for it on the basis of his previous experience," he said.

"So I suppose from that extent it will pile the pressure on the Commissioner."

Writing in today’s Irish Examiner, Clifford detailed the range of reasons outlined in the letter from lawyers acting for Sgt McCabe as to why Ms O’Sullivan’s continuance in her role in untenable. Among these are:

Her access to full Garda resources in preparation for what is a personal case;

The setting up of a hand-picked liaison group in Garda HQ to deal with all tribunal related issues;

This is the third and final bullet

Her role as serving commissioner would discourage any garda from giving any evidence that could be even perceived to be anyway damaging to her reputation, if such evidence did exist;

The experience at the O’Higgins Commission where the commissioner and senior gardaí were represented by the same counsel and a high-ranking officer had a watching role for the commissioner, which gave her unique access to all the evidence tendered.

The letter is also understood to refer to reports about text messages being exchanged between senior officers which expressed bitterness at Ms O’Sullivan’s promotion to commissioner.