Shatter: Claims of threats are outrageous

Justice Minister Alan Shatter said it was “outrageous” to suggest that he “threatened anybody or authorised to threaten anybody” over attempts to blow the whistle within An Garda Síochána.

He was responding to a transcript between a garda whistleblower at the centre of penalty points allegations and the confidential recipient within the force, which was detailed in Saturday’s Irish Examiner.

The conversation between the confidential recipient, Oliver Connolly, and Sergeant Maurice McCabe took place in January 2012 when the former raised concerns about Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan’s intentions to promote a senior officer who was under investigation.

According to the transcript read out in the Dáil, Mr Connolly said: “I’ll tell you something, Maurice, and this is just personal advice to you. If Shatter thinks you’re screwing him, you’re finished.”

In the Dáil yesterday, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said: “He is essentially saying to the whistleblower that the Minister for Justice and Equality will come after the whistleblower if the whistleblower gives whatever material he has to the media or puts it into the public domain.”

Speaking later yesterday, Mr Shatter said he was “very curious” about the transcript. “There’s a reference to some transcript. I’m not privy to the transcript, I don’t know anything about the meeting that took place, I don’t know how the transcript was created.”