Silence of TD speaks volumes, judge told

Mick Wallace’s silence as to what action he may take against former justice minister Alan Shatter regarding what he said about the Wexford TD on RTÉ’s Primetime programme "speaks volumes", a judge was told yesterday.

Eileen Barrington, counsel for Mr Shatter, told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that Mr Wallace “doesn’t have to tell the court what his position is but it speaks volumes that he won’t”.

Ms Barrington led the former minister’s appeal against the Data Protection Commissioner’s decision that Mr Shatter breached data protection laws in announcing on television that Mr Wallace had been the beneficiary of garda discretion in relation to using a phone while driving.