Shatter: I have a political future after the election

Former Justice Minister Alan Shatter said he believes he has a future in politics.

The TD, who resigned his position as Minister in May last year, said he hopes to be selected as a Fine Gael candidate in the Dublin-Rathdown constituency, to contest the next General Election.

Mr Shatter also hit out at the media, saying they don't always get the story right.

He referred to a story in the Sunday Times in February 2014, alleging that the Gardaí had GSOC under surveillance, which was proved incorrect five months later.

"The suggestion was that that surveillance had been conducted by An Garda Síochána - a substantial number of newspapers and broadcasters ran with the line that the gardaí had GSOC under surveillance.

"I, at an early stage, managed to discover what was the reality of what had occurred. I told the truth about that issue [and] I was pilloried for doing so. I was accused of being too close to the garda commissioner."

Shatter was speaking in a radio interview with Sean Moncrieff on Newstalk, where he also read some of his poetry.

In the first of two poems read out, Shatter wrote about the pervasive nature of social media and the need to have real-world experiences.

Go Fly a Kite

By Alan Shatter

Facebook friends

In the cloud

Becoming popular

With the crowd.

Devoted followers

Living on-line

Fabricated world

On which to dine.

Dedicated tweeter

Something to say

So much neater

140 characters at play.

Actively engaged

In world affairs

Brief profundities

But no one cares.

Lots of likes

And notifications too

Social applause

Globalized zoo

Moribund existence

Intellectual cul-de-sac

Cyberspace capture

Gotta get back on track

The sun is shining

The day is bright

Need to meet real people

And go fly a kite