Shatter withdraws reasonable apprehension of bias claim

Former minister for justice Alan Shatter is not proceeding with his claim of a "reasonable apprehension of bias" on the part of barrister Sean Guerin in preparing his report concerning Mr Shatter’s handling of complaints by Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.

A hearing date for Mr Shatter’s case challenging that report on various other grounds has yet to be fixed.

High Court deputy master Angela Denning, who deals with various pre-trial applications, was told yesterday by Paul Anthony McDermott, counsel for Mr Guerin, that his side had received a letter stating the allegation of reasonable apprehension of bias was not being proceeded with.

An affidavit confirming the withdrawal of that allegation was to be provided and the case could be put back for a week, he said. In those circumstances, Ms Denning adjourned the proceedings for a week when a trial date may be fixed.

Lawyers for Mr Shatter secured leave last July to bring judicial review proceedings aimed at quashing certain findings of the Guerin Report. Mr Shatter claims that report rendered his position as minister for justice “untenable” and inflicted “severe and irreversible” damage on him in the political context.

The former minister claims certain conclusions and the procedure adopted in reaching them have caused him “severe reputational harm” as a public official and lawyer and “in the context of any position I may wish to take up in the future”. In the political context, the damage was “severe and irreversible”.

Mr Shatter has alleged breach of fair procedures and natural justice by Mr Guerin in how he compiled his report between March 4 and publication on May 6 and reached conclusions critical of the minister.

Mr Shatter had also alleged Mr Guerin’s membership, while preparing his report, of a Bar Council committee which criticised aspects of Mr Shatter’s Legal Services Bill was among various factors giving rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias.

Mr Shatter stressed he was not alleging actual bias.

Mr Shatter resigned on May 7, a day after publication of the Guerin report.

He claims he should have been given the opportunity to provide Mr Guerin with relevant information that would have assisted him on obtaining “a rigorously accurate understanding” of the events surrounding Sergeant McCabe’s complaints and Mr Shatter’s approach to those which could have resulted in Mr Guerin not drawing the disputed conclusions.

The disputed conclusions include Mr Shatter did not cause Sgt McCabe’s allegations to be investigated but accepted the Garda commissioner’s response to the sergeant’s complaints without question.