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It is normal for the State to pay for the legal representation of former employees who are being sued for actions done in the course of their work, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
Mr Varadkar was responding to news of the State paying for the legal representation of former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan in a case being taken by whistleblower Maurice McCabe.
However, the Taoiseach said this does not mean that Mr Callinan is being given an indemnity, nor is the Government accepting full liability.
“As I understand, as a former State employee who is being sued in the course of his work, it is the norm for the State to offer representation for him but that is not to say that he is being given an indemnity or anything like that,” Mr Varadkar said. “It is representation as regards the case but it is not blanket indemnity nor is it government accepting full liability.”
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Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is seeking to reverse a decision to fund the legal defence of his predecessor, Mr Callinan.
Dónall Ó Cualáin, who held the post of acting commissioner before Mr Harris’s appointment in September, recommended to Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan that the State provide and fund lawyers to defend Mr Callinan in the case being taken by Mr McCabe.
Mr Ó Cualáin had received legal advice that Mr Callinan was entitled to have his defence paid for under the Garda Síochána Act 2001. Mr Flanagan accepted his recommendation.
Mr McCabe’s case against the former commissioner was first lodged in July last year but is expected to make progress in the near future following the finding of the Disclosures Tribunal that Mr Callinan had engaged in a “campaign of calumny” against him.
Last month, the tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton found Mr Callinan tried to link Mr McCabe to false allegations of sexual assault after he went public with allegations of Garda corruption.
The Garda, the Minister for Justice, the State and the Attorney General are also listed as co-defendants in the High Court case.