Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe has rejected suggestions that he refused a direction from Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan to take part in an inquiry into penalty points allegations he had raised.
Sgt McCabe last night issued a statement insisting he was never invited to participate in the inquiry, which unfolded under the direction of Assistant Commissioner John O’Mahoney from October 2012 to April 2013.
His willingness or otherwise to cooperate with Garda inquiries into his allegations has become very contentious.
Opposition parties are continuing to press Minister for Justice Alan Shatter to apologise to Sgt McCabe and fellow whistleblower, retired Garda John Wilson for telling the Dáil last year that when investigations were instigated into their allegations that penalty points were being terminated corruptly by Garda members, they would not cooperate with those inquiries.
“I was never contacted by anyone conducting the O’Mahoney investigation which completed its report without making any attempt to speak with me or to seek my input or cooperation into its inquiries,” Sgt McCabe said last night. “I never withheld any information or cooperation from the O’Mahoney investigation as is now suggested.”
The O’Mahoney inquiry represents the largest inquiry conducted to date into the allegations of widespread corrupt terminations of penalty points by gardaí.
Sgt McCabe said last night when he learned in April 2013 that the O’Mahoney inquiry had been completed he contacted Assistant Commissioner O’Mahoney and asked him why he had not been interviewed as part of the process.
While he was offered the opportunity at that point to speak to Mr O’Mahoney, Sgt McCabe said with the investigating completed it was a meaningless invitation.
"As a member of the Garda Síochána, I have tried to uphold its integrity by complying with my duty and being truthful in my dealings with my superiors and with the public office holders with whom I have been dealing in relation to these matters."
He said while media reports suggested Mr Callinan had “directed” him in December 2012 to cooperate with the probe, no such direction had been issued to him.
