Category: Tribunals
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Journalists give conflicting accounts at Charleton tribunal
Charleton tribunal: summary of evidence for week ending 8 June 2018 Article commissioned by Sunday Independent Listening to journalists during the past week, Mr Justice Peter Charleton noted several times that he did not want to be an Irish Leveson reporting on the state of Irish media. Journalists and barristers have danced around the issue…
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Journalists give evidence to Charleton Tribunal
Charleton Tribunal: Summary of evidence for week ending 1 June 2018 Article commissioned by Sunday Independent In its final phase, the Charleton tribunal is hearing from journalists about what they knew of smear campaigns and negative briefings against whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe. The week began with former commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan, who said she never sought…
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Callinan stands firm on smear campaign denial
Charleton Tribunal: Summary of week ending 25 May 2018 First published in the Sunday Independent After three days of evidence from former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan, there was one thing Mr Justice Peter Charleton couldn’t quite understand. “I’m still puzzled as to how you chose David Taylor, because whatever way you look at it, it…
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Shatter steps back to ‘quicksand’ of issues raised by Sgt McCabe
Charleton Tribunal: Summary of week ending 18 May 2018 First published in the Sunday Independent Alan Shatter had barely started his evidence, explaining the various contacts he had as justice minister with whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe, when Charleton Tribunal barrister Kathleen Leader asked him about the Commission of Inquiry headed by Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins.…
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Charleton Tribunal: week ending 11 May 2018
Article for Sunday Independent of 13 May 2018 Supt David Taylor’s reputation has taken something of a battering since the Charleton tribunal began its inquiry earlier this month into allegations he was ordered to brief journalists negatively about whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe. Former garda commissioner Martin Callinan denies giving instructions to brief negatively to the…
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Charleton tribunal: week ending 4 May 2018
Article for Sunday Independent of 6 May 2018 John Ferris had a difficult time adjusting to life with David Taylor in the Garda press office. An inspector at the time, Ferris told the Disclosures tribunal how when Taylor first arrived to his posting at Garda headquarters, they shared an office. Aware that his new boss…
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Charleton tribunal: week ending 13 April 2018
Article for Sunday Independent of 15 April 2018 Tomorrow morning, Disclosures tribunal chairman Peter Charleton plans to visit Kildare Street. The Supreme Court judge will inspect Leinster House 2000, a new building completed in 2001. First stop will be the Coffee Dock, a popular breaktime spot for everyone working in the complex. From the checkout…
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McCabe, O’Sullivan and a stick of ‘political dynamite’
This article first appeared in the Sunday Independent on 21 January 2018. “Political dynamite” were the two words solicitor Annmarie Ryan wrote down when barristers for the garda commissioner began to challenge garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe’s credibility at the O’Higgins Commission of Investigation. “I was always conscious in relation to it getting into the media,…
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Government concerned to deflect Smithwick report
An edited version of this article appeared in Village magazine, December 2013-January 2014 edition Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams did the State (or at least, its institutions) some service in the wake of theSmithwick tribunal report when he made some ill-judged remarks on Newstalk to the effect that the two RUC officers whose deaths were…
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IRA had ability to intercept Garda phone calls
Smithwick tribunal A 1988 Garda intelligence report stated that the Provisional IRA had the ability to intercept telephone calls from Garda stations or the private lines of Gardai, the Smithwick tribunal heard. The report was one of several, summarised to protect the identities of sources, which were read into the tribunal record by garda superintendent…
