Nóirín O’Sullivan has again told the Disclosures Tribunal that she did not consult with or seek the advice of the Department of Justice regarding her legal strategy challenging the motives of Maurice McCabe at the O’Higgins Inquiry.

The former Garda Commissioner said the period in question was extremely busy with a royal visit and security issues at the forefront of her mind.

The Tribunal has already heard that a senior official in the Department of Justice wanted to make it clear that the Department couldn’t become involved.

This morning, details of a senior Justice official’s statement to the Tribunal were heard, in which he said that he was acutely conscious of the proper position of the Department and saying to the Commissioner that they couldn’t become involved.

Nóirín O’Sullivan said she was always aware that the Department had no role in the O’Higgins Inquiry.

This is important as the former Tánaiste resigned over questions about how much she knew regarding a legal strategy to attack the motivation and credibility of Maurice McCabe at O’Higgins.

On the day legal argument arose regarding that strategy, Nóirin O’Sullivan made three phone calls to the Department of Justice.

But  Ms O’Sullivan accepted that her instructions had already been confirmed by the time she spoke to the Department.

She agreed with Counsel for the Department of Justice that no official from the Department nor the Minister had advised her regarding the legal strategy.

She also accepted that there were other pressing issues regarding crime and security that she would have spoken to Department officials about.