The former Garda Mr Maurice McCabe told of how he was targeted by a co-ordinated smear campaign after disclosing malpractice in the force.                                                                                                                               Tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton found Mr Martin Callinan engaged in a campaign of false and defamatory statements against Mr Maurice McCabe, with the assistance of Supt Taylor.

The judge said Mr Martin Callinan went on “a frontal attack” against Sgt Maurice McCabe, telling a TD the whistleblower had sexually abused his own children.

The claim was completely false and caused much distress for the McCabe family when they learned of it.

Mr McCabe’s father Michael had also embarked on a crusade years earlier against the pollution of Lough Sheelin in the 1980s.

Mr Maurice McCabe said that although he wasn’t thinking about it when he took a stand against garda malpractice, there were similarities between himself and his father.