Another inquiry into Garda matters? How many is that now?

It’s the third full Commission of Investigation into various Garda issues in the last few years. But before that there were other scoping inquiries, or ‘reports about reports’... but in terms of full, legal inquiries with the power to compel witnesses and evidence, this is number three.

And is there any connection between them all?

Not really. One of them (the Fennelly inquiry) is looking at the illegal taping of phone calls at Garda stations, and is still ongoing.

There’s two others, though, which are slightly related. One of them – the O’Higgins Commission – looked at alleged Garda malpractice in Cavan-Monaghan. Those concerns were raised by Sergeant Maurice McCabe (who had also been a whistleblower about the waiving of penalty points).

The way in which McCabe was allegedly treated by the rest of the force, for turning whistleblower in the first place, is now being investigated by a third report, the Charleton Inquiry.

So this is about whistleblowers are treated?

Yes - though not all whistleblowers.

There are roughly ten Gardaí who are alleging mistreatment of some sort, but this inquiry will focus only on the treatment of Maurice McCabe, and also of Superintendent David Taylor.

Supt David Taylor? Who's that?

He used to be the head of the Garda Press Office and was effectively the official spokesperson of Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan, and of her predecessor Martin Callinan. 

He was moved out of the Garda Press Office in 2014, and was investigated in 2015 over the alleged wrongful leak of certain matters to the media. He's been suspended from duty ever since.

And what does he have to do with all of this?

In a meeting last year with Maurice McCabe, Taylor ‘came clean’ and claimed he had been ordered to systematically smear McCabe (by Callinan and/or O’Sullivan) by spreading personal and professional allegations about him.

Specifically, he claims he was told to brief the media that McCabe was motivated by maliciousness and revenge, and to generally discredit McCabe by downplaying or undermining McCabe’s allegations.

he also says he was directed “to draw journalists’ attention to an allegation of criminal misconduct made against Sgt McCabe and this was the root cause of his agenda, namely revenge against the Gardaí”.

When he ‘admitted’ (allegedly) this campaign to McCabe, the two men then decided to make ‘protected disclosures’ – in other words a whistleblowing complaint – to the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald.

How has this been investigated so far?

Fitzgerald handed over the claims to Iarfhlaith O’Neill, a former High Court judge, for a first inquiry.

His report hasn’t been published (seemingly due to legal concerns about the nature of the whistleblowing claims themselves) but he recommended to the Government that a full legal inquiry be set up.

He noted that both O'Sullivan and Callinan "wholly deny" the allegations made against them.

Where do Brendan Howlin’s claims today fit into all of this?

Howlin today told the Dáil that he’d been approached by a journalist who was prepared to give sworn evidence to Charleton’s new inquiry.

WATCH: @BrendanHowlin tells #Dáil of claims that Garda Commissioner rang journalists to make claims about whistleblower Maurice McCabe. pic.twitter.com/w1nFzFFrR1

— Today FM News (@TodayFMNews) February 8, 2017

That journalist said they had knowledge of other reporters, being called directly by Noirin O’Sullivan, in an effort to discredit Howlin.

Speaking under Dáil privilege, which makes him immune from any allegations of defamation, he said O’Sullivan “made very serious allegations of sexual crime having been committed by Maurice McCabe”.

O’Sullivan has issued a statement this evening denying the claims, stating that today was the first time she had even heard of such claims, and promising to make resources available to the Gardai affected by today’s comments.

Who else is allegedly implicated in this?

Very few details have been officially confirmed, because whistleblower complaints are by their nature supposed to be kept secret. This means it’s legally difficult for Noirin O’Sullivan or Frances Fitzgerald to give any details about them.

However it’s reported that Taylor says the orders for the smear campaign against McCabe came from the highest levels, including from the Garda Commissioner herself.

O’Sullivan has consistently denied any such claims. In a statement last October, the Garda Press Office said: “Commissioner O’Sullivan would like to make it clear that she was not privy to nor approved of any action designed to target any Garda employee who may have made a protected disclosure and would condemn any such action.” She has always stuck to that line.

Furthermore, O’Sullivan has always publicly said she wants the Gardaí to be welcoming of whistleblowers – so any suggestion that her private action differed from her public claims would be very serious indeed.

What about the role of the media?

The inquiry will investigate any contact between Gardaí and members of the broadcast media, and look to examine the phone records of Taylor, O'Sullivan and Callinan. However it will not look into similar records on the part of journalists.

There will be a special investigation into the role of RTE, however. Last May RTE News carried reports on an early leak of the O’Higgins Commission report, in which McCabe was a key player.

The report itself was released two days later, and largely vindicated McCabe’s claims, but the RTE reporting of the early leak placed focus on some of the more negative findings about him.

Charleton will now investigate whether O’Sullivan “planned and orchestrated” those broadcasts, “in which Sgt McCabe was branded a liar and irresponsible”.

Will O’Sullivan be allowed to stay in place while her own conduct is investigated?

It appears that way, though some in the opposition aren’t happy about it.

When the Cabinet made the decision to set up the new Charleton Inquiry it didn’t hold any discussion of whether O’Sullivan should be asked to step aside. That’s a clear indication she will be allowed to continue in the role.

Significantly, there is no proposed deadline for the new inquiry – so if O’Sullivan were to stand aside for its duration, it could mean she would be sidelined for years without any clear date of return.

However others believe it’s not fair that O’Sullivan would be allowed to remain as the head of the Garda organisation, with the utmost level of control of resources and potentially of evidence, while that evidence might being sought.

It’s worth pointing out in this regard, however, that as with all Commissions of Investigation, the Charleton Inquiry will have powers of compellability, so there is no prospect of evidence being withheld by any person for any reason.