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RTÉ INCREASED ITS audience share for its documentary about Maurice McCabe last night, with an audience share of 44% tuning in to see the second part of the whistleblower’s story.
An average of 555,000 people tuned in to Whistleblower: The Maurice McCabe Story on RTÉ One, an increase on the 509,000 that watched the first part on Monday night.
McCabe – who recently retired from An Garda Síochána – and his wife Lorraine described their experience since the former sergeant began to raise concerns about misconduct and wrongdoing within An Garda Síochána over a decade ago.
The Disclosures Tribunal report last month found that there was a campaign run against McCabe by the then-garda commissioner Martin Callinan, that was aided and abetted by Superintendent Dave Taylor.
This campaign came at a time when McCabe was highlighting deficiencies within the penalty points system within An Garda Síochána, where fixed-charge notices were routinely cancelled.
An RTÉ spokesperson told TheJournal.ie: “The two-part series has had a 1.1 million reach on TV, and it has been one the most watched documentaries ever on RTÉ Player, with almost 90,000 views in the last two days.”
The show has been praised widely on social media since the first part aired on Monday, and the issue continues to dominate proceedings at Leinster House.
Yesterday in the Dáíl, Social Democrats’ Rosin Shortall called for a change to employment terms for senior civil servants who receive pensions even if they have engaged in serious wrongdoing.
This morning, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the cancellation of Martin Callinan’s pension is currently subject to legal advice.
“Like any other public service pension, it is based on his own contributions,” he said.
I cannot say at this stage how this can be dealt with in a way that sees the cancellation – immediately or at some stage in the future – of a public service pension.
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If only all Guards had the attributes that Maurice McCabe has. Bravery, integrity and honour. He has done this country a great service and I wish him and his family well in his retirement.
@Robbie Dillon: to start I would just like to say what callinan did was a disgrace, but in regards to your kind words for Maurice, the documentary was “the Maurice McCabe story” and as a result it wasn’t going to contain anything negative. I would like to see a documentary sometime from everyone involved and everyone effected, from the two fine ministers who lost their job, our first female commissioner who lost her job, the two guards who were falsely accused of perjury, the confidante who lost his job, and finally the guards he reported and had grievances against McCabe, only then I think we’ll get the full picture, but I see this as unlikely. I wish McCabe well and may he get well compensated in the courts.
@Robbie Dillon: Most Gardai have the came attributes as Maurice McCabe but not his incredible level of confidence and courage and that is not a fault.
Barry Ryan, your obviously a disgruntled cop, think you need to watch the programme again. None of those creeps your defending would have lost their jobs if Maurice MC cave hadn’t been framed and share upon by his line managers and indeed subordinates, ye snake..
@Nick: and you are obviously a disgruntled skanger who has had a few run ins with the law, you have formed a theory based on certain facts that suit your own agenda and you now pontificate on social media that your opinion is actually fact, which you then think allows you to be derogatory to the organization that you feel has wronged you in the past. Either read all the tribunal reports or just go back to saying “all cops are pigs”
@Barry Ryan: well that seems more than a bit inconsistent with other responses you gave in this comment section. If it was the “McCabe story” which it was, then why do you support the airbrushing of Wallace and Daly out of that story as they clearly played a central role in keeping pressure on the Government on the issue? And why are YOU raising the care of Keith Harrison. Seems somewhat hypocritical to me.
And watched with astonishment knowing not a single person will face the courts.
Brave brave man, and respect to his wife for what she had to deal with, I thought she came across as being very calm and dignified.
It’s easy for us to be outraged at this, and so we should be. But there has been and still is this very Irish characteristic of holding up two fingers to the rule of law. It’s a cultural thing and manifested itself in this case right at the top. Well done to those who are brave enough to fight against it, thanks to them can we hopefully see real change.
@Adrian: very true, there was also the ostracisation of maurice mccabe by his colleagues and wider community in bailboro, the whispering campaigns against him. Im afraid this characteristic is not just restricted to the gardai it is actually more widespread in irish society especially in small towns.
I couldnt agree more, there is a very irish cultural way of dealing with problems in the workplace, eg Bullies, the practice is to protect the bully because its perceived the bullied is the problem who is rocking the boat/ going against the grain eg “sure its just BANTER” When you have to dislike someone within the workplace so you can fit in…REAL FRIENDS ARE NOT WELDED ON NEGATIVE ACTIONS TO DISLIKE AN INDIVIDUAL OF QUIET NATURE…Thats why when companies finish up and employees move on they never keep in contact.. BULLIES ARE COWARDS….Maurice McCabe a HERO and his partner is a rock … I have experienced this in a job i finished with 8 years ago, in which i was bullied for ten years… and its ruined my life….
One thing that occurred to me through the brilliant documentary was that Mike Wallace nor Claire Daly got a mention.. I find that very strange indeed as both of them were central in ensuring the issue did not going away or was covered up. I am not in their political space but credit where it’s due, they did more than most.
@Stephen Duffy: really? They took up Keith Harrison’s cause for which all his allegations were entirely without validity. And in regards to McCabe, Wallace used Dail privilege to state that two guards perjured themselves to stitch up McCabe, which was completely untrue……..yeah good job!
@Stephen Duffy: and they were central in removing Fitzgerald, shatter and O’Sullivan, all of whom were vindicated, yeah great job!
@Stephen Duffy: they both featured prominently in E01.
@Stephen Duffy: Nor gemma o’doherty who lost her job. and treated similar to maurice mccabe.
@Barry Ryan: fine Gael apologist cop on. What about Claire Daly being handcuffed on suspicion of dd and the press let in on it. Or Gemma o Doherty being sacked..all the while Fg in power
@Fergus Fring: then I seen a different episode to you.. !!!!
@Barry Ryan: ..was it not the case that Shatter he had a problem with an investigation bring carried on out on him without him being questioned, which on the face seemed unfair, yet didn’t appear to have an issue when the O’Mahony did his report on McCabe accusations without actually speaking to McCabe? In relation to Fitzgerald, is in not a fact that it was clearly stated that she was not informed of the legally strategy yet e-mails later emerged that showed she was informed? In relation to Harrison it was Pearse Doherty that named him in the Dáil and was supported by Alan Kelly among others and there is nothing wrong with that. Daly and Wallace campaigned to get the Harrison accusation included in tribunal, it was and accusations rejected. Was that not a good thing they did?
@Stephen Duffy: They did in the first program.
@Stephen Duffy: opposition have little to no power to affect change, what they can do is to look for heads to roll. When you have mick Wallace shouting from the opposition benches with crocodile tears looking for shatters Head, and then an inaccurate Guerin report comes out, the government has very little options to quell the argument. Shatter was an excellent minister for justice, and the work he did in family law was amazing. Did you know he was working on making legal services more affordable for everyone. Ask yourself who wouldn’t want that and what high profile barrister volunteered to help. Francis fitz. I know your going to disagree with this, but she would have received thousands of mails, I genuinely believe she didn’t remember because she couldn’t act on it.
@Stephen Duffy: once the email was found, the record was corrected. I take your point was it not a good thing that Harrison was put forward for the tribunal. Due to his accusations, there were weeks even months of, the guards are corrupt, rotten to the core etc etc etc, and then when it transpires the accusations were false, there’s no apology, no statement that they were wrong, nothing. The public opinion of the guards have been irrevocably damaged, and Clare and mick just move on to their next victim. Alan Kelly was on prime time when the results came out and he was barely pressed on it. I respect their role as opposition, but as they are protested under dail privilege, they should at least apologize when they were wrong. Anyways we won’t sort it out here. Best of luck
Thanks to John McGuinness
If it was left to O’Sullivan & Fitzgerald the bullies would have won
@trebloc01: fianna fail coming out of it pretty good, incredible.
We’ve had 6 years of FG….they’re no better than FF…
@John Smith: and a few of these politicians and former politicians pensions should be cancelled too. Leo, 11 years in politics and a pension pot already of over 1.5 million, obscene and unjustified.
Maurice and his father are men of integrity. Our country need more of them. Also, Maurice’s wife is one of substance and should be admired just as much. I wish people like them were in government because they are the people I’d happily vote for.
Callinan should be left fend for himself, and stripped of his pension, he acted disgracefully,
Lifting the veil of the corrupt cesspit that is Ireland.
@Frankie Mangan: Corrupt cesspit? Really?
What Maurice McCabe was put through was absolutely scandalous but calling your country a corrupt cesspit is tabloidish nonsense
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index
@Tweety McTweeter: Are you serious!?
@Tweety McTweeter: tell that to the owners of the 350 HSBC Swiss Bank accounts that were protected. #weNeedMoreWhistleBlowers
@David Corrigan: are you?!? I’d suggest a trip to a sub-Saharan country to broaden your horizons and get a little perspective
@Tweety McTweeter: We are talking about our own country. How much evidence do you need to see how corrupt the kip is. Wake up for heaven’s sake.
@David Corrigan: evidence? The only way of measuring level of corruption in a country is to compare it to other countries. Why don’t you provide evidence on how ireland is any more corrupt than any other western country
@Tweety McTweeter: How many tribunals have we had in the last few decades? How many bankers were jailed for crashing the economy? It’s endless. I would here until this day next week providing you with evidence.
@David Corrigan: or maybe the tribunals show how seriously we take corruption compared to other countries…
@David Corrigan: Take a read of that link I posted. Do try to inform yourself and use empirical evidence rather than conjecture. Tribunals are a sign that a country actively investigates potential cases of corruption
@Frankie Mangan: Well it has some positives we have the best dole in Europe
@David Corrigan: real corrupt countries don’t conduct tribunals.
@Martin Intyre: we have tribunals rather than court cases because tribunals can only make recommendations and may not prosecute anyone. Sure the whole of the establishment including the legal profession would be behind bars in that case. They’re all either incompetent or criminally negligent .
It’s a case of ‘play the game ‘.
@Tweety McTweeter: Tribunals are implemented here to give the impression the establishment are doing something. Nothing more.
@Martin Intyre: Really? What is the outcome from the tribunals then? They were setup to address corruption etc but there are no actions taken after the results are published. Pointless excuses to make out something is being done.
Seemingly Netflix refused to buy the documentary , too unbelievable for an international audience
Maurice should go into politics. His Honesty and integrity has got my vote. Good luck Maurice with your future. I can see a bright future for you and your family.
Corrupt to the core,imagine the people who didn’t speak up,what they went through too,as the corrupt boss said,DISCUSTING.
This is something that irish people should not let get brushed under the carpet
this should take a goverment down
water protest got thousands on the streets
call you TD to morro
please
All this from state agencies that are meant to be there to protect the people, but instead they go to extraordinary lengths to protect themselves from the very people they are meant to serve.
None of this surprise me at all, I can’t even count the amount of inquiries and tribunals that have been conducted into state agencies and their failures in the last 30 years, and it really saddens me to know they will continue to be conducted for many, many years to come.
I stay well away from watching RTE.
@Mike Conway: Your loss, it was an excellently made documentary
@ihcalaM: was one good documentary or two worth your €160? RTE should simply be disbanded. Waste of money.
@Mike Conway: did you feel the need to share that with everyone ?
@Sean Oige: it’s literally the first good thing I’ve ever watched on RTE
@Sean Oige: an excellent example of public service broadcasting.
@ihcalaM: No mention of Claire Daly Mick Wallace or Gamma o Doherty who championed Maurice from the start, by rte says it all about Rte
Very brave man well done
I sincerely cannot believe this was the action of two people. I cannot believe Tusla still exist after this and it should be as big a part of the outrage. I always wondered why they would smear someone for this, I have known words like square and quash all my life in Ireland from parking inspectors, to A&E access, even access to schools. It still is the case.
Surely the dogs in the Dail must of knew of these rumours for as long as those in the garda. Its only after they knew it was not true they came out from the rock including McGuinness.
Now they need these two named culprits, who did alot of wrong but surely not all the wrong they need them lay down on the rails and government will then take hit on fees and damages, otherwise what will come out may be far broader ?
my opinion on that programme is Maurice will now be looking for a big pay day great he talked up to what was wrong but no ordinary man on the street can get all the evidence he got to his disposable when accused in the wrong ,gaurds seem to misplace things forget and there word is so highly taken in court an ordinary person would just get taken out . also he could get prime time and rte to make a programme about him dont get me wrong there is loads of people that deserve to be in jail but how many dont . if the top brass wanted to destroy one of its own for telling the truth what chance does a person in the wrong place at the wrong time or some one just unfortunate . as they say never let the truth get in the way of a good story.. love to actually know what that so call force gets up to .
@David cleary: was saying that today how many people have been wrongly done on the lies of the cops. Personally I know of three people who it has happened to.
Another Scandal in the Republic
The Government has to reconstruct the Police Ombudsman’s Office , resource it properly to permit into investigate policing independently .
Perhaps there could be an investigator role made for Sgt McCabe who is, no doubt,
keenly aware of the force’s devious policing strategies both internal and external and in dealing with whistleblowers and endemic cronyism.
@Moorooka Mick: how independent would the people in the ombudsman’s office be if they were intimidated by trumped up traffic infringements etc. And the possibility of a smear campaign against them.
Nearly half of those watching had a TV licence
Credit to Michael Martin for meeting Maurice McCabe and pushing Kenny for answers in the Dáil…fair play…Martin wasn’t letting this off to easy…
Just finished episode 2….that man is a hero and somehow that word seems insufficient, thank you Mr McCabe, enjoy your retirement.
It was always going to be a bit one sided.
Making a documentary during the commission and before the findings, RTE knew they were onto TV gold.
In sense of fairness and balance, we should’ve heard Callinan and all others side of the story from RTE…..
Discuss….
@Dave McMullan: We heard Callinan’s lies … Where is the justice in him walking the streets .. The man should be locked up..
Praise? RTE left half the story out and people involved and then other news broke today the journal and RTE did the same. Background work not credited at all. You hardly need a tip on who that was now do you.
Fiat justitia, ruat coelum.
@Josh Hanners: when is it coming out ? Don’t like Italian cars myself .
Tusla Child and Family Agency are Rotten to Core of Hell.
Wallace and Daley have remained silent on the Mc Cabe story. Normally they would be jumping on the bandwagon to gain publicity. Why are they not. Is there more to this one sided story that meets the eye!! Is there a skeleton in the closet?
have your say