TDs: Has Shatter got access to secret files?

Coalition TDs have demanded to know if Alan Shatter has access to secret files on prominent politicians, journalists and public figures, as the controversy surrounding the justice minister continued to escalate.

The move came as the Data Protection Commission indicated it would launch an investigation into the way Mr Shatter used information given to him by the gardaí to attack independent TD Mick Wallace.

Labour deputy Kevin Humphreys was backed by Junior Transport Minister Alan Kelly in demanding Mr Shatter make an emergency statement to the Dáil on the affair.

Mr Humphreys said the minister’s explanation provoked more questions.

“Is there a written file on deputies, or on journalists, or whoever in society? I am deeply uneasy with this,” he said as he moved to table a Dáil question enabling Mr Shatter make a statement.

Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes insisted his office would “fully investigate” a complaint about the Justice Minister brought by Mr Wallace yesterday.

He stressed there is a “solemn duty” on Government figures, including Mr Shatter, to protect personal data and not disclose it unless the person affected consents or there is a legal basis.

Mr Hawkes said because the information was Mr Wallace’s, it would be up to Mr Shatter to justify the basis for disclosing data that came into his possession as a minister.

Mr Shatter claimed he was not guilty of “spying” on political opponents and not involved in a “conspiracy”. “As minister I have the inconvenient habit of telling the truth,” he said, describing Mr Wallace as “a public personality” guilty of “hypocrisy”.

Mr Wallace said he would formally lodge a complaint with public office watchdog SIPO today.

Mr Wallace now admits being at a traffic lights in Dublin while using his mobile phone, when a Garda car pulled up alongside him. “I dropped the phone and... to acknowledge it, I said: ‘I’m sorry’. Did they exercise discretion? Yes they did,” he told RTÉ.

However, Mr Wallace insists he was not stopped and not warned by the gardaí.

Fianna Fáil stepped-up its demands for Mr Shatter to resign, insisting that the justice and defence minister could no longer be trusted with sensitive information.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny again backed the justice minister during a visit to Boston, saying: “I am glad that Deputy Wallace has now remembered that the incident actually took place. The information was relevant in the sense that you can’t have deputies saying on the one hand that there should not be anything like discretion and at the same time be the recipients of that.”

Mr Shatter said he received the information about Mr Wallace “incidentally” during a wider gardaí briefing on penalty points waivers. “I as minister have no time to be spying on anybody and I have no interest in doing so.”

The justice commission intends to question Mr Shatter on the Wallace affair when he appears before them to discuss penalty points in the coming weeks.