A Whistle-Stop Tour of Whistle-Blower Destruction

There is an on-going crisis in Irish Government. That is nothing new, we have seen it before in the days of Charlie Haughey and Liffey-Gate. The nature of this crisis is different however. What it reveals is chilling.

An Garda Síochána, Ireland’s national police service, had a problem with a corrupt officer eight years ago. Fortunately for the Irish people, this problem was discovered by an honest officer. His name was Maurice McCabe. He did his duty, he brought the criminal to account and he upheld the law. Clearly, he had to go! 

How do you destroy a whistle-blower, an honest man of courage and integrity? As it turns out, its a very dirty business. The answer makes the blood run cold. This is how it's done:

Questions were raised about his integrity. Anything would have done. The important thing was to open an investigation.

In this case the daughter of the corrupt officer alleged that Maurice McCabe had touched her when she was a small girl. The claim was minor and dismissed, not only because of the lack of evidence, but because the behaviour described did not seem to constitute a crime. During this process, however, files were opened in both An Garda Síochána and TUSLA, Ireland's Child and Family Agency.

Next, and this still seems beyond belief, an account of serious child rape, true but involving a different child and completely unrelated perpetrator, was copied and pasted into the TUSLA file on Maurice McCabe. It remained there for a year.

Then, based on this falsehood, inquiries were started into the Whistle-blower and his family, including all his children. As this is a good man, nothing was found. Simultaneously, a whispering campaign was undertaken. Details of the child rape allegation were leaked to the officer's colleagues, his community, to senior politicians, and to those to whom he might appeal for help.

The mistake was then “discovered”. Copying and pasting a description of child rape into an innocent man’s records, it turns out, is called “a clerical error”. Garda McCabe knew nothing of it except for the whispering campaign, the destruction of personal relationships and the undermining of his life and reputation. 

Despite the allegations being a "cut and paste error", investigations were restarted into the whistle-blower. Many men, and many families, would be destroyed by this. But Maurice McCabe held on, through eight years of hell.

Now the truth is coming out and justice is getting closer. Many things remain to be discovered: how common was this practice, who initiated it, how high does it go? 

One thing has been revealed: the cruelty and black heartedness involved when what is termed the deep state sets out to destroy a good man.

Good men and women everywhere – take note.