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Updated 10.45pm
THE CABINET HAS agreed that a senior counsel is to examine claims being made by garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe that the force mishandled a series of cases involving abduction, assault and murder.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed that senior counsel Seán Guerin is to conduct an independent examination of the cases to see if there are grounds for the establishment of an Commission of Investigation.
Kenny described it as a “scoping exercise” that will be carried out by an “an experienced criminal lawyer” who will “assess the investigative methods that were carried out” on the cases in question and will report back to him before the Easter recess. Kenny said he intends to lay Guerin’s report before the Dáil for debate.
Ministers were this morning briefed at their weekly meeting by the Justice Minister Alan Shatter on the details of correspondence between the Department of Justice and McCabe in recent years.
It comes amid growing controversy about what and when Shatter knew about allegations that gardaí mishandled a number of serious cases involving murder, abduction and assault.
The Cabinet agreed that a barrister will be appointed to examine the dossier of files and determine whether a further inquiry is needed.
Fianna Fáil has this afternoon slammed the government’s response, labelling it as “quite simply, unbelievable” and “an unbelievably weak response” reiterating calls for an independent inquiry.
The dossier was given to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin by McCabe, a serving sergeant, and subsequently passed to the Taoiseach last week.
Kenny said last week that the documents contain “extremely serious allegations of garda misconduct”.
It is claimed Shatter was first notified about the claims two years ago, but this has not been confirmed.
Kenny confirmed this afternoon that Shatter will give a statement on recent events to the Dáil tomorrow and, with exception of Leaders’ Questions, the house will spend all day debating the recent controversy.
He also confirmed that the Cabinet has approved an amendment to the Protected Disclosures Bill which will allow serving gardaí to bring complaints to Garda Ombudsman.
Pending the enactment of this bill, the government will appoint an interim confidential recipient in the gardaí in the wake of Oliver Connolly’s sacking last week.
In a statement issued this lunchtime, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesperson Niall Collins said the coalition’s response falls short of what is needed and said that a senior counsel is not needed “to advise on what is the right thing to do”.
“In the first instance, the Taoiseach acknowledged the gravity of what he had been given,” he said.
“Unfortunately, there seems to have been a process of minimisation and misdirection ever since. This has culminated this afternoon in an unbelievably weak response. What is the Government trying to hide?”
Human rights group the Irish Council for Civil Liberties has also criticised the decision. The organisation says that after two weeks of “drip fed allegations” nothing short of “an independent statutory inquiry” will do.
Sleep walking into a firmly controlled disaster!
@Colette Kearns: those newbies oblivious to whats coming!
Cash is still king folks keep using it as much as possible
A cashless society is a dark road to totalitarian control. They will know where you spend your money and how you spend your money. If your political ideology does not align with theirs they simply freeze you out of the system just like Canada did. Infactvits already happened here
@GreenFlag: not really about control. But the sane person who n
@GreenFlag: not really about control. But the same person who makes your argument will go shopping in Tesco with their club card (shoes Tesco everything you buy and how often you buy and your demographic breakdown) as well as accepting cookies on websites and allowing meta to look
At you personal info. But it’s the paying with card which is the bad thing .. clearly ..
@Ciaran: Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is coming; plans are well advanced in the US,UK, EU and elsewhere. These currencies will be programmable, i.e. where, when and on what you spend ‘your’ money will be monitored and controlled. This is not the same as voluntarily sharing meta data with some social media platform.
Research CBDCs and understand a cashless society is not good for the ordinary citizen.
@GreenFlag: why do you even have a phone then?
Hardly surprising as contactless is easier and safer for those paying, plus merchants don’t have the costs and security concerns of handling cash.
@Stephen Kearon: More like merchants have to declare all transactions.
Should this article not be marked as “Sponsored By BOI or AIB” ?…….Cash is KING.
@Eddie Feeney:
They could at least sponsor the stock image
@Sandra Anderson: and that’s a bad thing?
Cashless is the way to go. Get rid of the blackmarket and the brown envelopes.
And what do you propose in its place? One thing is for sure, the only market losing out on this is the black market
Of course. That is what the educational system, (run by mercenary merchants have told them to do), is anyone surprised? I know I am not. I’ve been warned about this sort of thing by the conspiracy theorists. Ha ha ha. How about using all those critical faculties you were told you had, when you started at university. Pity you seem to have lost them on the way out and gained a loan that you are unlikely to be ever able to pay back. You are now a criminal in one country if not another. Welcome to the new world renowned among us, by us, and don’t bother to ask for justice. You should know by now you are not going to get it on the journal. When all hope is lost. That’s when you will have a chance to chat with the most high. Ain’t that good news?
I love cash and will only use cash
Happy to use the card cept for the bank fees.
@der Fussballmeister: What bank fees are you referring to? Contactless payments are free (/included with your account servicing fees) with all retail banks in Ireland. ATM withdrawals are not.
The only reason I dont fully go cashless, and even more so, contactless, is that it is too handy. So handy in fact that people can forget and just keep tapping. Call me old fashioned, but I continue to take my weekly cash out so I can see exactly where it goes and how much I have left for the rest of the week. It has nothing to do about worrying about the New World Orders or that the banks and shops and government knowing what I spend my money on…..just me, myself, keeping control of where it goes.
I buy all my tinfoil hats with cash. Can’t beat it.
Heading for cashless
have your say