Former Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has won an appeal over critical findings of his handling of allegations made by a whistleblower.
They were included in the 2014 Guerin report that accused him of failing to adequately deal with complaints of Garda misconduct.
The Guerin report arrived on the Taoiseach’s desk on May 6th 2014 and following a conversation with his then Minister for Justice the following day, Enda Kenny took to his feet in the Dáil chamber to make a shock announcement that Minister Shatter was resigning.
The report was highly critical of the way Mr. Shatter handled Sergeant Maurice McCabe’s allegations and accused him of accepting the response of the then Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan without question.
Following his resignation, he initiated High Court proceedings seeking judicial review of the report – but was unsuccessful.
In his appeal, he argued he had a right to be heard by Mr. Guerin – that simple fairness demanded it and a serious injustice had befallen him by his failure to do so, damaging his good name and livelihood.
The three-judge panel today agreed.
Mr. Shatter wants the public record corrected and a hearing will take place later this month to figure out the best way to do that.
