The woman who made the original child sexual abuse allegation against Sergeant Maurice McCabe has told the Disclosures Tribunal she was fed up with hearing him described as an honourable man and that is why she decided to give an interview to journalist Paul Williams about him.

Ms D said she had a personal grievance against Sgt McCabe and she wanted people to know that he was not a saint, so she talked to Mr Williams.

In 2006, Ms D made a complaint that he had inappropriately touched her during a game of hide-and-seek in Sgt McCabe's house in 1998.

The Director of Public Prosecutions dismissed the allegation.

In 2013 Ms D returned to counselling as she said she was upset and agitated at seeing Sgt McCabe being covered in media as a garda whistleblower.

Ms D said she never told the counsellor anything different during that meeting from the report she had made to gardaí in 2006.

However, the counsellor made an error when she referred the allegation to Tusla and incorrectly inflated the allegation to a more serious one.

Ms D spoke to Mr Williams in March 2014 and he ran two stories, which did not identify Ms D or Sgt McCabe, in April.

Mr Williams also suggested that Ms D could refer the case to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and he arranged for her to meet Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and then Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter.

Under questioning from lawyers for the garda, Ms D said she had made the original complaint to gardaí and it was not her father who did so.

She said she had confided in a friend and a cousin. She also had explained to a college lecturer why she had to leave a class.

She also said the allegation was known around Bailieborough and Virginia and they were small towns where people talk and it was known.

Ms D’s father later told the tribunal that a Detective Superintendent suggested Mr Williams to him as a journalist who might report her concerns.

Mr D said Det Superintendent John O'Reilly was an old friend who asked him if his daughter would talk to Mr Williams.

Mr D said that when he asked her, she agreed.

Mr D said he just facilitated the meeting and he did not tell his daughter what to say.

He said he was not involved in a campaign to discredit Sgt McCabe and his only concern was for his daughter.

He said she was very angry and very upset as she felt Sgt McCabe was being held up as a hero.

Mr D also said that he was flabbergasted at what he saw as an implication that his daughter was motivated by "petty revenge" because he had been disciplined by An Garda Síochána after a complaint made by Sgt McCabe.

Mr D also said that in February 2017, the night before RTÉ aired a Prime Time programme, journalist Katie Hannon sent him a handwritten letter which arrived at 10.30pm or 11pm.

He said he felt that the whole tone of the letter was that his daughter was motivated by petty revenge and he was flabbergasted.

Under questioning from Michael McDowell, SC for Sgt McCabe, he agreed that he and Sgt McCabe were not the best of friends.

He confirmed that he had been disciplined following a complaint raised by Sgt McCabe and he said it was his own fault.

Mr D also said that he was at work in Bailieborough Garda Station in May 2014 when Supt Leo McGinn showed him a referral from Tusla which concerned his daughter.

He said he almost collapsed and was absolutely reeling when he saw the seriousness of the sexual abuse allegation contained in it.

He said he was later told by Supt McGinn that a new corrected referral had been sent in.

He presumed it would be fixed and he could not conceive it would not be fixed.

Mr D was also asked how some journalists might have found out the family's identity and called to the house.

He said the original allegation was "an open secret in the guards".

He said they considered instituting civil proceedings against Sgt McCabe and they discussed it in 2007 but they decided against it.

Under questioning from lawyers for An Garda Síochána, he said Det Supt O'Reilly was not part of any smear campaign.

He also said that no journalist had ever told him that they had been negatively briefed by senior gardaí.

Under later questioning, he said he would have assumed that senior gardaí knew about the original 2006 allegation.