Credibility crisis - Shatter is now just a sideshow

Those who oppose the Government will support proceedings in the Dáil today and tomorrow, where a motion of no confidence in Justice Minister Alan Shatter will dominate business.

Naturally, the Coalition will reject the motion and, because of their unassailable Dáil majority, it will be defeated. The likelihood of any other outcome is as remote as the prospect of TD Mick Wallace being named as the next Garda Commissioner.

Voting will — even if not entirely without question — follow tribal lines and little or nothing, except the further debasement of our parliament, a few raised voices, and a few feeble one-liners read into the Dáil record, will result. It is also reasonable to expect to see that great, sobering piece of modern political analysis — “asking Bertie Ahern a question is like playing handball against a haystack” — made real again as Mr Shatter deigns, if that word is regal enough, to interact with this country’s house of representatives. That interaction may, if experience is any judge, fall short of accountability, however. Nevertheless, the motion is entirely justified and it is not difficult to see how, even if you step beyond the charge of cynicism levelled at Fianna Fáil, it can be avoided.

But it could have been avoided, if not easily then without any great, insurmountable difficulty. Had Mr Shatter engaged with, rather than offer scripted lectures to, the public and to our parliament, then the great doubts swirling around this episode, one that reaches further into the heart of our public life every day, might have been eased. The acceleration of this destabilising and dangerous momentum was confirmed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil yesterday afternoon when he told the House the prison service had “inadvertently” taped conversations between prisoners and their legal representatives. It is not unreasonable to wonder which State service will feature in the next round of covert-taping revelations, “inadvertent” or otherwise.

Neither is it unreasonable to suggest that, had Mr Kenny adopted a more assertive management style, like the one he eventually applied to former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan, with Mr Shatter and ordered him to be more forthcoming and less evasive, then the Dáil Donneybrook today and tomorrow might have been avoided. But he was not, and if a confidence motion in Mr Shatter is justified, then it seems fair to wonder if Mr Kenny’s loyalty to his justice minister deserves to be challenged too. Irrespective of that, and even though the focus will be on Mr Shatter today, far greater questions have been brought into play.

The integrity of our justice system, our Department of Justice, the gardaí, our political leaders, and our parliamentary system are at issue. That sweeping, disconcerting claim can only be made because this whole affair, from the very day the GSOC bugging claims were made, has been characterised by mismanagement, hubris — personal and institutional — deflection, and evasion, if not straightforward deceit.

That all of this reaches a culmination of sorts with a motion of no confidence in an individual rather than our way of doing business does not auger well. It also puts extraordinary pressure on the various inquiries circling the scandal to deliver plausible, convincing findings — no matter what they might be. We simply cannot afford anything less.