Shatter denies State tried to hide elements of Bailey case

Alan Shatter, the justice minister, has denied that the Government had sought to keep key elements of the Director of Public Prosecution’s criticisms of the garda investigation into Ian Bailey from the public.

Mr Shatter reacted to reports which alleged that the attorney general had agreed to release sensitive information relating to the Bailey case only if aspects of it were not put in the public domain.

The revelation came after Mr Bailey, who lives in West Cork, last Friday defeated an attempt by French authorities to extradite him for questioning in relation to the murder of film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier near Schull in December 1996.

The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission has launched a probe into the handling by gardaí of its investigation into the du Plantier death, amid allegations that some gardaí attempted to use political influence to secure a murder charge against Mr Bailey.

Documents also highlighted alleged flaws in the garda investigation.

The documents were released to Mr Bailey’s legal team last year on the advice of the Attorney General. According to the Sunday Business Post, in a letter written by an official at the Department of Justice’s Central Authority for Mutual Assistance, Attorney General Maire Whelan agreed to release the documents to Mr Bailey’s legal team “strictly subject to the caveat” that information relating to three individuals must be concealed from public attention.

In a statement yesterday Mr Shatter’s department said any limits placed on disclosure of the information was to “protect the constitutional rights of third parties” named in the documentation and that this “did not preclude the use of the material in court proceedings by legal representatives of Mr Bailey”.

The statement claimed that when the documentation which emerged from the Office of the DPP was brought to the attention of the attorney general and the minister, arrangements were made to provide it to the solicitors and counsel representing all sides in the proceedings before the Supreme Court, and to the relevant French authorities.

It said the Central Authority in the department, on the advice of the attorney general, pointed out that the DPP documents impacted upon the reputation of a significant number of individuals and “there had not been an opportunity to put in place any mechanism to allow third parties, whose good name and reputations might be deleteriously affected, to make representations.”

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One programme yesterday, Mr Bailey’s solicitor, Frank Buttimer, said the situation involving his client had been “totally unprecedented”, adding that he “could not believe it” when he was made of aware of the files late last year.

He said that there were further questions surrounding the matter that needed to be answered, including by the Department of Justice.