Enda Kenny urged to sack attorney general Máire Whelan

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is facing calls to remove a senior state official for the second time this month after ex-justice minister Alan Shatter said the Fennelly report’s failure to find widespread abuse of Garda phone recordings means the attorney general’s position is “untenable”.

Mr Shatter made the call to act, which comes amid ongoing opposition attempts to remove Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan over a separate matter, despite Mr Kenny insisting Máire Whelan has his “full confidence” and will not be removed.

While Ms Whelan warned Government in March 2014 that the garda phone recording scandal could wreak havoc on an unknown number of court cases and convictions, the 742-page Fennelly report has found no criminal case was affected.