Connolly ‘had pedigree and exemplary record’

Oliver Connolly is a barrister and recognised expert in the area of mediation. In June 2011 he was appointed as the confidential recipient for people wishing to act as whistleblowers for alleged corruption by An Garda Síochána.

He had earned €12,500 a year for providing his services until he was relieved of his duties yesterday morning.

He is also a lecturer in arbitration at Trinity College Dublin and principal at Friary Law, the country’s largest legal mediation company.

However, Mr Connolly’s previous connections with Justice Minister Alan Shatter, who appointed him, provoked immediate disquiet.

Mr Shatter, a family law solicitor, had been trained in mediation by Mr Connolly’s firm. Mr Connolly had also declared a €1,000 donation to Mr Shatter’s election campaign in 2007.

When this was flagged in the Dáil, Mr Shatter defended his appointment and said Mr Connolly’s credentials had been acknowledged and availed of by previous justice ministers from both the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fáil.

Michael McDowell appointed Friary Law to be a nominating body under the Civil Liability and Courts Act in 2004.

In March 2011, after the Fianna Fáil-Greens coalition was defeated, the temporary outgoing justice minister Brendan Smith appointed Friary Law as mediators under the multi-unit development bill.

Mr Shatter has told the Dáil that, for 20 years, Mr Connolly had built an exemplary record and was qualified to act as a lawyer in England, Northern Ireland, and New York.

Mr Shatter said his former political donor had the ideal pedigree to act as a confidential and trustworthy point of contact for whistleblowers in possession of sensitive information.

“I would go so far as to say that it must be manifest to them from the very character of the confidential recipient that their report will be taken seriously and their right to confidentiality protected. Mr Connolly is a person of the highest integrity,” Mr Shatter said.