Key figure in Garda controversy challenges Shatter claims

The former Garda confidential recipient Oliver Connolly has taken issue with statements made by former minister for justice Alan Shatter in the wake of the O'Higgins Commission of Investigation report being published in recent days.

Mr Connolly said he feels it was a “grave injustice” that a conversation he had with Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe, which was secretly recorded and had resulted in the creation of an “alleged transcript”, had now become the subject of controversy again.

He also said he believed it was not within the remit of the commission into Sgt McCabe’s allegations of garda malpractice in Cavan-Monaghan, carried out by Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins, to examine the matter.

In a statement issued to The Irish Times on Friday, Mr Connolly said while he gave evidence to the commission and assisted it as much as he could, he declined to "validate" the "alleged transcript".

The transcript suggested when Mr Connolly was relayed the nature of the complaints Sgt McCabe wanted to make, he said to Sgt McCabe: “If Shatter thinks you’re screwing him, you’re finished”.

Mr Shatter this week said he was relieved the O’Higgins commission had found he, Mr Shatter, had never held the views ascribed to him in the transcript produced.

And Mr Shatter added in his statement to the media this week that the O’Higgins report noted his evidence was “unchallenged and uncontradicted”.

Mr Shatter stated as fact his evidence was unchallenged even though Mr Connolly had been legally represented at the commission when the relevant testimony was given.

However, Mr Connolly has now directly contradicted that assertion.

“I was not present at the evidence of Mr Shatter before the Commission of Investigation, who provided his evidence subsequent to mine, nor have I had sight of the evidence of Mr Shatter before the Commission of Investigation,” he said.

“I was not legally represented at the evidence of Mr Shatter before the Commission of Investigation.”

He added he had “refused to validate, either by way of confirmation or repudiation” any “alleged transcript” of any conversation he had when confidential recipient precisely because any interaction he had with complainants was private and confidential.

“I was working at all times under a fundamental expectation of confidentiality,” he said in his statement Friday afternoon.

“Having fully discharged my duties in my former office and having fully cooperated with the Commission, it is a grave injustice that this matter of an alleged transcript taken in breach of confidence of a confidential discussion in my former role as confidential recipient - something which I and others understood as not within the remit of the O’Higgins Commission of Investigation and beyond its Terms of Reference - is again a matter of controversy.”

Mr Connolly was the first figure to depart any official office as a result of the Garda whistleblower controversy, with Mr Shatter later resigning and former garda commissioner Martin Callinan retiring.

Sgt McCabe's tape transcript was read into the Dáil record by Fianna Fáil leader Míchéal Martin and Independent TD Mick Wallace just over two years ago.

Mr Shatter sacked Mr Connolly in the wake of the disclosure of the conversation, and the minister was unhappy with his response to the controversy.

In a statement released shortly after being relieved of his part time and unpaid post just over two years ago, Mr Connolly said: “There is also a personal sense of betrayal in that the principal whistleblower felt it necessary to vindicate his rights by infringing my rights and, by extension, the privacy of my family.

“The ends do not always justify any means. One must not become so focused on a goal that it is pursued at all costs.”