Nobody in the Department of Justice remembered an email between between a department official and an official from the office of the Attorney General, the Tánaiste has told the Dáil.
Frances Fitzgerald said the email was drawn to her attention last Thursday but when it was drawn to her attention she did not remember it. “I can only assume that I read it,” she said.
The email revealed an attempt by the former Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan to introduce a “serious criminal” complaint against Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe during the O’Higgins commission in 2015. The commission was examining allegations of Garda malpractice raised by Sgt McCabe.
The Tánaiste told the Dáil in a statement that she had confirmed to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last Monday week that neither she nor the department had any “hand, act or part” in the legal strategy devised by the Garda to challenge the credibility and motivation of Sgt McCabe.
Allegations
Ms Fitzgerald, now Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, said the email referred to serious allegations made against Sgt McCabe.
She said what was clear was that “an official from the office of the Attorney General had contacted an official in the Department of Justice about an issue that had arisen at the tribunal”.
Ms Fitzgerald stressed that it was for information and not for her to take action.
What she told the Taoiseach “was that I was only aware of all of the details that came out one year later in 2016”, she said.
She subsequently spoke to the Taoiseach on Thursday about the email. “I was not aware of this strategy and was just informed last Thursday about this email.”
She always protected whistleblowers in all of the actions she took, she said.
“What possible advantage to me if I had remembered that email and did not tell the Taoiseach?” she asked.
The email was written by a department official and sent to an official in Ms Fitzgerald’s office.
The former minister for justice said Mr Varadkar spoke to Sgt McCabe on Tuesday evening.
But throughout her speech and the 50 minutes of questions afterwards from Opposition TDs, Ms Fitzgerald repeatedly insisted that it was not for her to take action.
It was an information email and she did not have any role in relation to the legal strategy. She also told TDs that it would be a criminal offence for her to intervene.
Charleton tribunal
Asked why the email was only sent on Tuesday to the Charleton tribunal, Ms Fitzgerald said: “I’m not the Minister in that department now.”
The former minister for justice said the email, which was sent late on May 15th, 2015, discussed the disagreement between the two legal teams at the commission about the raising of a serious criminal charge. Sgt McCabe had always denied this allegation.
Ms Fitzgerald stressed that the concluding point of the email was that neither the Attorney General nor the minister had a function in that case.
She told the House: “My record speaks for itself and my commitment to deal with these issues in a comprehensive and fair manner.”
Labour leader Brendan Howlin said the email “should have acted as a red flag and you should have held the commissioner to account for the action she had taken”.
She said she always did that.
Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan noted Ms Fitzgerald had said the “highest level of legal support” would be given to whistleblowers.
He asked was she not “astonished” at the report of the legal approach taken by the Garda commissioner’s team.
Ms Fitzgerald said she had no function in this matter but she had always acted in the interests of whistleblowers to ensure they would be protected.
