Supreme Court to consider appeal of Guerin report ruling

Seán Guerin wants to challenge court finding that the report breached Alan Shatter’s rights

The Supreme Court is to begin considering senior counsel Seán Guerin’s request to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision in a case involving former minister for justice Alan Shatter.

At 10am on June 28th, oral submissions in relation to Mr Guerin seeking leave to appeal will be considered, after he lodged an application to the Supreme Court on April 3rd.

The Guerin report on the official response to allegations from Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe led to Mr Shatter’s resignation in May 2014, after he was told the then taoiseach Enda Kenny would not be able to express confidence in him in the Dáil.

The report found that Mr Shatter did not properly heed warnings of malpractice within An Garda Síochána.

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However, a statutory inquiry later found that Mr Shatter had responded appropriately to the claims.

Successful challenge

Last year, Mr Shatter successfully challenged in the Court of Appeal how some adverse findings made against him in the report were reached.

The Court of Appeal found that Mr Shatter’s constitutional rights were breached because he was not interviewed by Mr Guerin or allowed to view his draft conclusions.

The Guerin report was taken down from the website of the Department of the Taoiseach.

Mary Minihan

Mary Minihan

Mary Minihan is Features Editor of The Irish Times