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Former Fine Gael TD Alan Shatter has said his opinion of Enda Kenny has changed since he described the Taoiseach as "extraordinary" in his resignation letter as minister for justice three years ago.
Mr Shatter on Friday launched a strong attack on the Taoiseach and said Mr Kenny forced him to resign in 2014.
The former Dublin Rathdown TD also said Mr Kenny has a “casual relationship with the truth”.
Mr Shatter was speaking after the Court of Appeal ruled this week that “seriously damaging” conclusions in the Guerin report were made in a manner that breached his constitutional rights.
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The Guerin report related to Mr Shatter’s handling of complaints made by Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe and led directly to his resignation as minister.
‘Given no choice’
Mr Shatter told RTÉ's Today with Seán O'Rourke programme that he was given no choice by Mr Kenny "but to resign".
“The Taoiseach’s comment was that he could no longer express confidence in me as a consequence of Mr Guerin’s report,” he said.
He also said that Mr Kenny's evidence to the Fennelly commission, which examined the resignation of former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan, indicated the Taoiseach has a "casual relationship with the truth".
The Taoiseach’s spokesman “completely” and “out of hand” rejected the claims made by Mr Shatter, and referred to his letter of resignation in 2014, in which he described Mr Kenny as “an extraordinary Taoiseach doing an extraordinary job”.
In response, however, Mr Shatter said his views of Mr Kenny had since changed, given his experiences since his resignation.
He said he has not heard from the Taoiseach since before polling day at the last general election, which was held on February 25th, 2016.
Perspective changed
"I did have great respect for him," Mr Shatter told The Irish Times. "My perspective has changed in my experience of dealing with him."
He also said that Mr Callinan and Nóirín O'Sullivan, the current Garda Commissioner, had never said anything inappropriate to him about Sgt McCabe, and that the first he knew of a Tusla file on Sgt McCabe was when he saw it on a recent Prime Time programme.
Mr Shatter said he was entitled to an apology from Mr Kenny for the manner in which he dealt with him, and he also wants the Dáil record corrected because “many members of the Dáil, the Taoiseach included, relied copiously on the Guerin report to criticise me in the course of 2014 to 2016 period”.
Fine Gael Dublin MEP Brian Hayes said Mr Shatter is "entitled to an apology from everyone – including the media".
“He has been treated appallingly,” Mr Hayes said.
A senior Government source, however, said that while Mr Shatter has been vindicated on Guerin, he had not been vindicated on other issues.
"He thinks he has been vindicated for everything else – [the use of information about] Mick Wallace, treatment of the whistleblowers, the general approach to how he handled the controversy. Not so."