The Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) is to seek permission from the justice minister to question the garda commissioner about claims that officers attempted to impugn the reputation of whistleblower Maurice McCabe at the O’Higgins commission.
The watchdog is prohibited from interviewing a serving commissioner without permission from the justice minister. No serving garda commissioner has ever been formally questioned by Gsoc, which is chaired by the judge Mary Ellen Ring.
Last week Gsoc obtained a court order requiring garda management and the Department of Justice to produce files and transcripts connected to the O’Higgins commission, where at one time barristers instructed by Nóirín O’Sullivan called McCabe’s motivation into question.
Gsoc is seeking recordings of hearings before the O’Higgins commission, in order to verify the contents of transcripts. The watchdog is also trying to establish the background to statements made to O’Higgins by the barristers in relation to McCabe’s bona fides. The allegation was later withdrawn after McCabe produced a tape recording of a meeting which he had with two gardai in Mullingar in 2008 which proved he never made certain remarks.
In the High Court last week, the judge Seamus Noonan ordered Gsoc to pay the legal costs of McCabe, and of Superintendent Noel Cunningham and Sergeant Yvonne Martin, who had all been notice parties to the application.
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Michael McDowell, senior counsel for McCabe, said his client was alarmed that Gsoc’s initial affidavit, sworn by Darren Wright, its head of investigations, had contained “highly inappropriate material” which might be ventilated in open court.
McDowell said McCabe had “to don his armour” and prepare for a “full fight” to prevent Gsoc exhibiting the material. It was only weeks after McCabe had seen the affidavit that Gsoc decided to enter a second statement, which did not contain the material.
Lawyers for Cunningham and Martin both said their clients had been caused a lot of distress as a result of media reports of their involvement in the meeting with McCabe in 2008.
When contacted last week, Gsoc said it would not discuss operational matters.
Garda Headquarters declined to comment.