Senior garda found it difficult to work with former garda press officer, tribunal told
A senior garda has told the Charleton tribunal that he found it difficult to work with the former garda press officer Supt David Taylor.
Supt John Ferris was being questioned by Tara Burns SC, who represents Mr Taylor at the tribunal.
The tribunal is looking at an allegation in a confidential disclosure by Mr Taylor that he was directed by former garda commissioner Martin Callinan to brief the media negatively on whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe. Mr Callinan denies giving such an order.
"Being honest, I found Supt Taylor, your client, difficult," Supt Ferris said to Ms Burns. Supt Ferris worked as an inspector in the Garda press office with Mr Taylor.
Supt Ferris said that at one stage Mr Taylor took the view that the Garda Press Office "should pump out press releases."
"If there's a lawnmower stolen from a house in Malahide, that does not justify a press release," Supt Ferris said.
Supt Ferris also recounted an incident in which a crime reporter called him asking was he missing something in a press release about a garda seizure of €5000 worth of illegal drugs. This information might be sent to a local paper, he said, but not to the national media for a relatively small seizure.
Supt Ferris said it was unusual for a superintendent to share an office, and he asked if that was okay when Mr Taylor first arrived in the press office and was told it was. But some weeks later, he arrived at work to find his desk "upside down in three pieces."
Questioned by the tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Peter Charleton, Supt Ferris clarified he was not suggesting that Mr Taylor broke his desk.
“As an individual, I found it very difficult to come to terms with how you could treat any employee in the manner in which I was treated," Supt Ferris said.
Supt Ferris said he had a professional relationship with his superior, and attended the Garda press office Christmas outing, but outside of that, he did not socialise with Mr Taylor.
Supt Ferris said that after Mr Taylor was transferred out of the press office to the traffic section, he removed Mr Taylor from a mailing list summarising media coverage of the force. He later removed the superintendent from the list a second time, after his name was added back to the mailing list.
Supt Ferris also said that that he once saw a staff member in the press office printing out contact details for journalists for Mr Taylor, and told her not to do so.
Supt Ferris said he had no recollection of Mr Taylor saying he needed the press clippings in relation to a thesis he was working on at the time, and Mr Taylor did not offer a reason why he wanted to be on the mailing list.
He said the only response from Mr Taylor when told he was no longer on the mailing list was to ask who made the decision to remove him.
Supt Ferris said he did not know anything about any campaign against Sgt McCabe, and "was never privy to any communication between the commissioner and Supt Taylor in relation to Sgt McCabe."
The tribunal resumes on Friday.
