Three social workers are due to appear before an inquiry next week over their role in handling a file containing a false allegation of child sex abuse against Garda whistleblower, Maurice McCabe.
The social workers were employed by Tusla – the child and family agency – in the north-east between 2013 and 2016 when details of the allegation were processed.
A woman, known as Ms D, reported to gardaí in December 2006 that she had been sexually assaulted as a child by Sergeant McCabe in his home on a date in the late 1990s.
However, clerical errors resulted in the allegation subsequently being incorrectly documented as one of the more serious offence of rape against Sgt McCabe.
The fitness-to-practice inquiry in Dublin on Monday is being held by CORU – the regulatory body of health and social care professionals.
Details of whether the three social workers, who include a Tusla area manager at the time, will face charges of professional misconduct and/or poor professional performance have still to be revealed.
However, a preliminary investigation by CORU concluded that the trio have a case to answer before a full inquiry which is expected to be held in public.
A spokesperson for CORU said it was the organisation’s practice not to comment on any disciplinary inquiry in advance of a hearing or to confirm the identity of any party appearing before its Fitness to Practise Committee.
The creation of the file by staff in Tusla was also examined between 2017 and 2018 by the Disclosures Tribunal which was established to investigate allegations of a smear campaign by senior gardaí against Sgt McCabe after he had publicised the irregular cancellation of penalty points by gardaí and alleged malpractice and corruption in the Cavan-Monaghan division.
However, the tribunal chaired by Mr Justice Peter Charleton concluded there was no collusion between Tusla and gardaí aimed at discrediting Sgt McCabe.
The inquiry did find there had been a litany of errors within Tusla although it concluded that nobody had acted with malice against the former sergeant and his family.
The original allegation by Miss D was investigated by gardaí and a file was forwarded to the DPP who directed in April 2007 that no offence had been disclosed and consequently no prosecution should take place.
However, a social worker with Rian, a counselling service in Cavan, who worked with Miss D in 2013 made an error in transcribing notes of a counselling session with her by conflating it with details of an entirely separate case involving an allegation of rape.
As a result, the complaint by Miss D about an alleged brief, fully-clothed encounter with Sgt McCabe became one of vaginal and digital anal penetration which was classified as a rape offence and notified to Tusla.
Details of the more serious, inaccurate allegation of rape was sent to an assistant Garda Commissioner in the Northern Region as well as being notified to Garda headquarters.
While the mistake on the Tusla file was later corrected, the agency never communicated details of the error to either Sgt McCable or Garda management at the time.
Mr Justice Charleton remarked that a rape allegation was “conjured out of nowhere” at a time when Sgt McCabe had become a public figure for highlighting poor police investigations who was consequently disliked by some gardaí
“This must be one of the most unlikely coincidences ever to be accepted by any judicial tribunal. Yet coincidence it was,” he added.
While Mr Justice Charleton found that all witnesses before the tribunal had been honest in explaining how the error had occurred, he claimed the false report had “an afterlife” within Tusla because of its “astounding inefficiency” and “the inertia of its management.”
Although Miss D made Tusla aware in April 2014 that she had never made an allegation of rape against Sgt McCabe, no immediate and definitive correction was made to his file.
Mr Justice Charleton also found that from 2016 nobody within Tusla considered owning up for the serious mistakes that had been made.
In 2018, a report by the Health Information and Quality Authority – which was commissioned by the then Minister for Children, Katherine Zappone, as a result of Sgt McCabe’s case – found “systemic failures” in how Tulsa handled referrals of child sex abuse allegations.
However, it also stopped short of blaming any individuals for the errors in the processing of the garda’s file.
In April 2019, Sgt McCabe and his family settled High Court proceedings against the State and Tusla for an undisclosed amount as part of a confidential agreement between the parties.
