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Tribunal hears solicitor believes he was misled by former Garda Commissioner

Solicitor Gerald Kean has told the Disclosures Tribunal that he believes he was used by the forme...
Newstalk
Newstalk

14.06 12 Apr 2018


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Tribunal hears solicitor belie...

Tribunal hears solicitor believes he was misled by former Garda Commissioner

Newstalk
Newstalk

14.06 12 Apr 2018


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Solicitor Gerald Kean has told the Disclosures Tribunal that he believes he was used by the former Garda Commissioner to promote a position which was incorrect on a radio interview.

The well-known lawyer spent almost an hour on the phone with Martin Callinan before appearing on the Marian Finucane show – in which he defended the commissioner and criticised Maurice McCabe for not cooperating with a garda investigation into penalty points.

Sergeant McCabe began defamation proceedings against Mr Kean and RTÉ on foot of the broadcast, which were later dropped.

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Mr Kean featured as a panellist on the RTÉ show the same week Martin Callinan appeared at the P.A.C – and referred to the actions of whistleblowers as “disgusting.”

While Mr Kean didn’t support the use of that word, he defended Commissioner Callinan’s position in the programme, and criticised Maurice McCabe for not cooperating with the O’Mahony Inquiry into the quashing of penalty points.

This morning he told the Disclosures Tribunal he spoke to the Commissioner four to five times ahead of the radio interview – and was told repeatedly that Sgt McCabe had been obstructive, difficult and did not cooperate with the inquiry.

Mr Kean said that in hindsight Mr Callinan used him to promote a position that supported his stance in the matter and which, in his opinion, was incorrect and Mr Kean ended up in firing line.

Following the broadcast, Sgt McCabe took defamation proceedings against RTÉ and Mr Kean – which were later dropped.

It later became clear that Sgt McCabe did not refuse to cooperate with the inquiry, but had never been asked for input by Assistant Commissioner O’Mahony.


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