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Justice Peter Charleton RollingNews.ie

Peter Charleton wasn't overly enamoured by the press - here's what he had to say about journalists

Journalistic privilege was cited by many – not by all – but by most.

THAT’S THAT THEN.

The report into the Charleton Tribunal was published yesterday and it didn’t hold back.

The Tribunal was tasked with looking into allegations that there had been a smear campaign against Sergeant Maurice McCabe, orchestrated by senior gardaí. In its report, it found that it was “convinced” there was a “campaign of calumny” by former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan against McCabe. You can read all our in-depth coverage here

The head of the Garda Press Office at the time was Superintendent Dave Taylor who had claimed he was ordered to negatively brief a number of journalists about McCabe. 

Taylor had claimed that former garda commissioner Martin Callinan had sent him text messages that could be used by the press officer to smear McCabe to journalists.

He also claimed he would keep then-deputy commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan abreast of developments with the smear campaign. 

Both of these claims were found by Mr Justice Peter Charleton to be “false”. 

But the testimony of journalists in this Tribunal were to be crucial – navigating the questions so as to protect their sources ever more troublesome.

Charleton was tasked with getting information from those who pride themselves and whose careers rest on not revealing their sources. He had to speak to a number of journalists during the Tribunal. Many of the journalists who gave evidence, including RTÉ’s Paul Reynolds, were vindicated by Charleton’s findings.

Journalistic privilege was cited by many – not by all – but by most when the Tribunal’s questioning veered towards from where they got their information. 

And the right honourable Justice Peter Charleton was none too plussed with the wall of journalistic privilege he kept banging his head off. 

This was a Tribunal where the inner workings of the media were put under the spotlight and how the often grimy world of spin and bluster manage to bleed their way into our news.

The doublespeak of Garda PR was also skewered by Charleton. The ebullient justice quoted Shakespeare’s Macbeth to describe how you can’t ascertain right from wrong by the look of the person talking to you.

He bemoaned the double-talk and the “flurry of emails, memoranda, communications at high level, drafts, counter drafts and final drafts about the Garda Commissioner’s approach”.  Like Macbeth, he didn’t know if fair was foul or foul was fair. 

His disdain for the constant fork-tongued statements was also a cause of constant frustration for the judge and his team – so much so that he described the descent of our public discourse into the language of spin as a “hideous development”. 

But first to be tackled was how reporters used their journalistic privilege to withhold where they received their information. Charleton took aim at the fourth estate’s propensity to cite privilege when it didn’t suit them. 

A huge task

“The Tribunal had the greatest difficulty in getting any information from journalists. From March 2017, the Tribunal was writing to journalists and specifically targeted journalists who were noted as contacts on Superintendent David Taylor’s mobile devices.

“He waived privilege. Journalistic privilege has two parts, the entitlement to assert it and the right of society to override it in the interests of a pressing national concern.

It took over a year of work to come to the point where journalists could be called to, in the end, testify that they had never been negatively briefed by Superintendent David Taylor or to claim that they alone possessed the privilege of not answering questions. What did Superintendent Taylor do? That was the question which the people of Ireland entrusted this Tribunal to find out.

“The Tribunal sat for 102 days. In terms of documents considered by the Tribunal, these amounted to tens of thousands and, typically, in each of the four sections of the Tribunal’s work, there were in or around 8000 pages distributed to the parties by electronic means together with video and audio recordings of relevant materials. This has been a huge task.”

With regards to specific journalists, Charleton took aim at the Irish Examiner and accused the newspaper of frustrating the work of the Tribunal. 

His judgement explained: “The Tribunal, while grateful to those journalists who eventually cooperated with it, regards the delay in providing that cooperation as regrettable and as a frustration of the public will, as expressed by the terms of reference set by the Oireachtas, that a Tribunal of enquiry should do its work quickly.

Ultimately three journalists from the Irish Examiner, Cormac O’Keeffe, Juno McEnroe and Daniel McConnell, refused to give evidence to the Tribunal about the content of their dealings with Superintendent Taylor. This, obviously, and without justification, frustrated the work of the Tribunal. 

Ultimately, Charleton’s quest to sift through thousands of pages of testimony and evidence was definitely hindered by members of the press claiming privilege but the importance of the press’s right to use it should not be disregarded.

Charleton’s eventual conclusion that there was a “campaign of calumny” by former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan against Maurice McCabe was unequivocal and the direct antithesis of the fork-tongued double speak he criticised earlier on in his report. 

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    Mute Mick Tobin
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:41 PM

    It won’t help one bit for two reasons. Firstly because Russia has been having enough financial resources to help it through sanctions for years and will continue to do so, and secondly because this isn’t even about the military Nato threat the Russians claim is bothering them.

    There simply isn’t enough Nato military power in the area to outgun the Russians for that claim to hold, so it has to be about something else, which I think is the Kremlin being terrified that a democratic revolution could at some point reach Moscow.

    The whole thing started with an EU association treaty in 2014 – this triggered the Maidan crisis and the subsequent annexation of Crimea. Moreover Boris Johnson is still sitting on a collusion report into UK elections and the Brexit referendum, presumably because it would embarrassingly expose how Russia scored a major geopolitical victory with that referedum outcome.

    So I think Nato isn’t the real enemy so much from Russia’s perspective. It’s democracy in general, and the EU in particular. They don’t like the idea of this system sitting next to them because of what it advocates, and they don’t like people witnessing its success because it threatens them, and this is what makes the situation so dangerous, because if democracy is the enemy, then what sort of contained solution will pacify the Kremlin? There is no such solution I’m afraid.

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    Mute Sean McCarthy
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:47 PM

    @Mick Tobin: very well put, great point.

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    Mute Gerard
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    Feb 24th 2022, 1:09 AM

    @Mick Tobin: the sanctions imposed over Crimea did have a very negative effect on the Russian economy. Look at the exchange rate of the ruble over the last ten years and you’ll see it lose over 50% of it’s value nearly overnight.

    I’m not saying the sanctions will deter Russia. But the last round did have a strong measurable negative effect. But they’re not going to cause the economy to disappear overnight, and at a certain point it will adapt. No more than North Korea functions without much of any access to the world economy. Just because it’s priced in, and doesn’t cause the regime to collapse doesn’t mean the negative effect isn’t there.

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    Mute Paul Gorry
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:12 PM

    Putin couldn’t care less about sanctions nor can the rest of the Russian government.

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    Mute Mick McGuinness
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:35 PM

    Any Family members of any high ranking government, military, oligarchs should have their visa cancelled in the West and given 24 hour’s too leave. Freeze all Bank accounts no matter which bank they’re in. If the West don’t do anything it’s like Hitler and his actions all over again.

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    Mute Kerrill Thornhill
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:34 PM

    It’s hard to see these sanctions having any meaningful impact. The over use of economic sanctions on places like Cuba/ Venezuela/ Iran/ Syria/ N.Korea have pushed them into the arms of China and Russia, effectively nullifying their inpact. Chinas is now the world’s biggest economy and its balance of trade boomed despite US sanctions – their Belt and Road Initiative has attracted over 130 countries, making them the dominant global economic power. This is causing panic stations for countries who have used economic power to bully colonies/ small countries in the past.

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    Mute JohnDoe
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:09 PM

    WH says sanctions are already impacting …the reality is their not. Putin and Co have being planning this for years. He shorting the dollar over gold… Ukraine is a major supplier of Neon … higher..and ..HIGHER prices to come.. fertiliser prices to increase..impacting food prices in 12 months or so….

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    Mute Michael McGrath
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:50 PM

    Have a funny feeling those sanctions will have more of an impact on us ala higher again fuel prices and the knock on effect of higher prices of everything than any real impact on Russia

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    Mute Kieran Woods
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:49 PM

    There will be loads of posturing and huffing and puffing then it will all blow over. Gas transit through Ukraine will be throttled. Europe needs the gas. NS2 will be in operation inside 12 months.

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    Mute Philip Dwyer
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:22 PM

    We need to ban our coddle exports to Russia.

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    Mute Mick McGuinness
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 7:31 PM

    @Philip Dwyer: down with that sort of thing.

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    Mute Colm Molloy
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 8:00 PM

    @Philip Dwyer: And all boxty from the border counties

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    Mute John O Mahony
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    Feb 24th 2022, 1:45 AM

    We are a neutral country so why are we taking sides. I don’t see any sanctions against isreal when the are taking palestinian land on a continuous basis. Double standards from the west.

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    Mute Colm Molloy
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    Feb 23rd 2022, 8:12 PM

    Did the Americans put all sorts of bases and the like around Russia years ago which caused them to build up military resources in all sorts of far out places in Russia, which essentially became an arms race, eventually collapsing their economy, this time, they are more armed and funded, but still hurt from before, egotistically.
    How to resolve this one is anyones guess but being slightly left of centre and soft might not work, or at least get the west a lot less at the negotiation table.
    The west wanting, in this case, Russia not deploying it’s army outside its borders .
    It’s a tough one alright.

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    Mute Neuville-Kepler62F
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    Feb 24th 2022, 11:57 AM

    Hearts and minds over guns and tanks.

    The Internet now enables identification and direct communication with individual soldiers.
    Their personal details are on Social Media platforms.

    Russian soldiers have form in responding maturely to “daft” orders from their officers.

    https://eng.mil.ru/en/mission/peacekeeping_operations.htm

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