With the passage of a little time putting perspective on to often complex matters, one thing is for sure: a conversation in the living room of a house in Glasnevin, north Dublin, two years ago was truly historic.
It saw the departure from office of then Garda commissioner Martin Callinan. He was immediately replaced by the first female commissioner in the history of the State, Nóirín O’Sullivan, though she would have no doubt taken the job in time anyway.
The Glasnevin conversation ensured the political survival of Enda Kenny, who has since become the first Fine Gael leader to win consecutive terms as taoiseach.
Gathered in the Glasnevin living room on the night of Monday, March 24th, 2014, were Callinan and the then secretary general of the Department of Justice Brian Purcell.
It had just emerged that phone calls to and from Garda stations all over the country had been secretly recorded for years.
The revelation came after a couple of years of increasing controversy around the termination of motoring penalty points and allegations that serious crimes had not been investigated in the Cavan- Monaghan Garda division.
Blowing the whistle was Sgt Maurice McCabe, whose actions Callinan had referred to as “disgusting” when appearing before the Public Accounts Committee in early 2014.
Terrible relationship
A terrible relationship had also developed between the Garda and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman. And when the taping controversy emerged it was added to the proverbial haystack of last straws that had piled up in that tricky area where politics meets policing.
The kind of pressure known to topple governments was starting to emerge from the fog.
And against that backdrop, Purcell was dispatched to speak to Callinan at his home in Glasnevin on behalf of Kenny.
He outlined, at the request of the Fine Gael leader, that the taping controversy would be discussed at a cabinet meeting the following morning and that a commission of investigation would be established.
It was relayed to Callinan that Kenny was unsure how the cabinet would react. Callinan has since said when he asked Purcell if the cabinet still had confidence in him he was told there was to be a meeting the following morning before cabinet to discuss the issue.
And while Callinan did not know who would be at the meeting, he took Purcell’s visit as an invitation to consider his position.
Callinan told Purcell he wanted some time to announce his retirement himself, which he did the following day.
Exoneration
While the Fennelly commission into the Garda tape recordings has yet to issue its final report, the O’Higgins commission’s report, published yesterday, clears Callinan of corruption or any other form of wrongdoing in the way he handled whistleblower McCabe’s allegations.
However, that exoneration is perhaps of little comfort to Callinan, who was forced from office after 41 years in the Garda anyway.
But had Purcell not clearly put the fear of God into Callinan that night, the commissioner would likely have stayed in his job.
And if Kenny wanted him gone in a bid to ease the policing controversies smothering the life out of the government at the time, he would have had to seek cabinet approval to remove Callinan.
The newspapers this week would surely be filled with reports about Callinan having been fired for nothing and Kenny’s position would be untenable.
But Callinan’s decision to walk before he was pushed – it appears so as not to upset his family – has saved Kenny from a retreat to the back benches.
And having just become the big winner from the election – with her elevation to Tánaiste – Frances Fitzgerald would surely be waking up this morning as Ireland’s first woman taoiseach, or certainly closing in on the prize.
Purcell has long departed his post at the head of the department, resigning in July 2014 after a report on the department through the various controversies found it to have a “closed, secretive, silo-driven culture” and to suffer from “significant leadership and management problems”.
Former minister for justice Alan Shatter, like Callinan, also departed office under pressure only to be exonerated by the O’Higgins report published yesterday.
But despite all of that damage, the oft underestimated Kenny has somehow emerged as the new Teflon Taoiseach.