Alan Shatter: A minister who backed the wrong horse

Shatter left high office with his integrity and reputation for honesty intact, writes Michael Clifford

Former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan

The next Dáil is going to be all the poorer for the absence of Alan Shatter. Through most of his time in politics, up until his failure to retain his Dáil seat in the general election, Mr Shatter was a pretty rare intellectual force. In opposition he was well able to hold the government of the day to account, and was a notable contributor to private members bills.

As minister for justice he demonstrated some cojones in taking on the legal business, of which he was a product himself. Then he ran into some major problems over issues in An Garda Síochána which eventually led to his resignation from office in May 2014.