Garda Commissioner apologises to ex-minister Pat Carey over leak

Former government minister Pat Carey learned “out of the blue” about a Garda investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse against a minister.

An article about that investigation was published in the Irish Independent on November 11th, 2015, and a Fianna Fáil party official phoned him just after 7am that day to say there was “a story doing the rounds about child sexual abuse and my name was being mentioned around Leinster House the previous night”, Mr Carey told The Irish Times.

Up against it

He was “shell-shocked”, took legal advice and spoke to several people. “The people who met me did not know what the hell had happened to me, I looked like somebody who had got really bad news.”

Feeling he was “up against enormous odds”, he issued a statement that evening denying wrongdoing but stepping down from his various roles pending the investigation, which ultimately resulted in the Director of Public Prosecutions deciding in 2019 he had no case to answer.

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Mr Carey was a Fianna Fáil government minister from 2010 to 2011. In 2015, he was Fianna Fáil’s national director of elections and involved in several charitable organisations. On Friday, he secured €250,000 in damages, an apology from the Garda Commissioner and his legal costs under a settlement of his High Court action over two Irish Independent articles of November 11th and 12th, 2015, concerning that investigation. The damages and most of the legal costs will be paid by the commissioner and State and a €75,000 contribution to the costs will be made by Independent Newspapers.

Mr Carey alleged breach of privacy and confidentiality against the publisher and, against the commissioner/State, alleged disclosure of confidential information during a criminal investigation.

In the apology, the commissioner acknowledged information in relation to the investigation “found its way into the public domain”, accepted “this should never have happened” and had caused “severe and wholly unjustified distress to Mr Carey and those close to him and damage to his reputation”.

After court, Mr Carey said he has “just about got through” the last eight years. He is very grateful to his partner, family, and many others for their “enormous support” but said they too have suffered.

While the settlement offered some sense of vindication and closure, he said there “will still be some of the ‘there’s no smoke without fire’ brigade” but hoped the settlement “will have given the lie to a lot of that kind of stuff, such as it was”.

Struck out

There is a right to investigate matters of public interest and rights to free speech and freedom of expression but there must be “careful handling of information” and regard for people’s reputation and integrity.

In a statement on behalf of the Irish Independent, Mediahuis Ireland welcomed the conclusion of the matter and that the proceedings against the Irish Independent had been struck out.

It said the article concerned “a matter of public interest which was the subject of a Garda investigation”, did not identify Mr Carey and was widely followed up by other media outlets.

“We recognise this was a difficult period for Mr Carey. We take our duties and obligations as a news publisher very seriously and we will continue to publish articles that are in the public interest in a manner that is appropriate and responsible.”