Taoiseach Enda Kenny said on Monday night that he plans to talk to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin to try and agree the best way of examining the Maurice McCabe controversy.
Pressure is mounting on Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald over her account of when she became aware of false allegations of child sexual assault against Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe that were contained in files of Tusla and were sent to An Garda Síochána.
Meanwhile, Mr McCabe has called for a public inquiry into claims that senior gardaí, including Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan, organised a smear campaign against him while he was whistleblowing about a range of issues in the force.
Ms O’Sullivan denies the claims. A commission of investigation has already been announced to investigate the case.
Mr Kenny said he would try and speak to Mr Martin about the case on Tuesday morning.
Asked what he was going to do about Mr McCabe’s call on Monday for a public inquiry into the case, Mr Kenny said: “We want to find out the best way of finding out the truth.”
Mr Kenny was speaking on his way into a Fine Gael meeting on Brexit in Cork city.
Mr Kenny also referred to the growing political controversy surrounding the allegations during his announcement earlier in the day of 100 jobs being created in Cork city by US software firm NGINX.
Mr Kenny said that it was imperative that the commission of inquiry into the case be allowed start its work as quickly as possible, as the McCabe family had “been seriously maligned” by “erroneous allegations of sexual abuse”.
“The really important thing now is that the Government set up a commission of investigation and proceed to work as quickly as possible,” said Mr Kenny.
“The Government is open and willing to engage with everybody to see this is effective in order to do its work and I would point out the judge chosen to deal with this commission of investigation [Mr Justice Peter Charleton] is a very experienced forensic judge who can commence work this week.”
Garda Commissioner
Mr Kenny said that he noted recent comments by Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan in which she said that she had done nothing wrong and that “a campaign of false accusations, repeated and multiplied” did not make her guilty of anything.
“Everybody in this country is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty and, in this case, the quicker that commission of investigation gets underway to do its work the better for everybody concerned,” said Mr Kenny.
Mr Kenny also said he hoped political agreement could be reached to allow Mr Justice Charleton start his inquiries this week.
