A former member of the Public Accounts Committee in 2014 has claimed he was contacted by a senior garda who told him whistleblower Maurice McCabe “couldn’t be trusted”.

Fine Gael TD for Waterford John Deasy was a member of the PAC when it was holding hearings into allegations by Sgt McCabe in relation to the penalty points system.

He said the comments from the senior garda came shortly before Sgt McCabe was due to appear before the committee. Then garda commissioner Martin Callinan also appeared before the committee as part of these hearings into the cancellation of penalty points.

“Before the meeting I was approached by a very senior garda and he proceeded to make some very derogatory comments about Maurice McCabe. The nature of which were that Maurice McCabe could not be believed and could not be trusted on anything,” Mr Deasy said.

“They were very, very derogatory [claims] and it was a most serious attack and very strongly worded.

“Maurice McCabe was in the PAC the following Thursday [in 2014]and I thought he was credible, I made that judgement.”

Who is Sgt Maurice McCabe? In 2008, Sgt Maurice McCabe raised concerns about quashing of penalty points. Claims that he was the subject of a smear campaign are to be examined in a tribunal of inquiry. The Garda whistleblowers: read more I found this helpful Yes No

“I think I and others realised that there was a campaign against Maurice McCabe to undermine his character,” he added.

Mr Deasy did not identify the officer who made the allegations but stressed it was not current garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan.

Ms O’Sullivan has repeatedly stated she had no knowledge of or involvement in any alleged campaign against Sgt McCabe and has refused to step aside while the issue is investigated by a tribunal.

Mr Deasy said he was so concerned by the allegations that he immediately brought them to the attention of Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Mr Deasy told him a campaign was being orchestrated by senior gardaí against Sgt McCabe and he had “first-hand” experience of that.

During his meeting with Mr Kenny in 2014 Mr Deasy said: “At that meeting I said to him that I believed Maurice McCabe would be vindicated, that he was being treated extremely badly and that he was genuine.”

Mr Deasy said he expressed the view that the issue needed to be handled “completely differently”.

The Fine Gael TD told RTÉ’s Prime Time on Tuesday the Taoiseach had listened and acknowledged his concerns.

Mr Deasy also claimed that at the same time in 2014, a second Fine Gael member was making similar representations to a Cabinet member about the McCabe case but was ignored.

Mr Deasy said the alleged campaign against Sgt McCabe appeared to have been “extremely effective with hardening opinions with regard to his character”.

“I really cannot defend anyone in government when it comes to Maurice McCabe,” he said, although he declined to criticise current Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald’s handling of the issue, saying it had predated her time in the department.