Shatter: Whistleblower probe was stymied

Alan Shatter told Taoiseach Enda Kenny in a confidential letter after he resigned as justice minister that he was "stymied" by Department of Justice officials at looking into whistleblower allegations against gardaí.

Mr Shatter also told Mr Kenny in the private letter that the Guerin report into Sgt Maurice McCabe’s claims had reached conclusions that were “catastrophically damaging” to him.

The Irish Examiner has obtained the correspondence as the Government prepares to publish the terms of reference for the inquiry into Sgt McCabe’s allegations.

Mr Shatter wrote to the Taoiseach on May 22, two weeks after he stepped down, and enclosed a letter from the attorney general’s office to the Department of Justice which referred to the Garda whistleblower claims.

Mr Shatter disagreed with findings in the Guerin report.

It had concluded that the attorney general’s office had advised that booklets with Sgt McCabe’s allegations should be given to the minister “without further ado”, but that it was “unclear” if the documents were ultimately forwarded to the Garda commissioner.

Mr Shatter told Mr Kenny these conclusions were “incorrect”.

He claimed that his attempts to look into Sgt McCabe’s allegations of malpractice against gardaí were obstructed.

“Had I been asked I would have explained that it [the attorney general’s letter] resulted from two separate requests made by me during the autumn of 2013 to officials to obtain advice from the attorney’s office as I was concerned that there was a gridlock in correspondence between officials and Sgt McCabe’s solicitors and, based on the oral advices I was receiving from officials, I was stymied in taking necessary steps to get to the root of the allegations made.”

Mr Shatter goes on to say that barrister Sean Guerin concluded that, despite the advice Mr Shatter received from the attorney general, he had done “nothing and no papers were furnished to the Garda commissioner”.

Mr Shatter then tells Mr Kenny he never actually received the attorney general’s letter from his justice officials. Mr Shatter also denied receiving the letter during a Dáil speech in the summer.

In the correspondence to Mr Kenny, he goes on to complain that he was never interviewed for Mr Guerin’s report and never given the opportunity to address the barrister’s conclusions.

“I also do not understand why Sean Guerin prematurely concluded his work without reading and considering the voluminous documentation on offer from GSOC and reached conclusions catastrophically damaging to me without interviewing me, asking me a single question, or even furnishing a draft report to me for observations.”

Mr Shatter finished the letter by telling the Taoiseach he would “greatly value our meeting, as you promised” as there were other important issues which he believed should be included in any inquiry.

The letter, deemed “private and confidential”, was released under Freedom of Information.

The Government is expected to publish terms for the inquiry into Sgt McCabe’s allegations shortly.

Mr Shatter has begun a High Court action aimed at overturning the Guerin report.