FIANNA FÁIL TD Mattie McGrath is seeking a meeting with Minster for Justice Dermot Ahern following the decision of a jury in Clonmel Circuit Court to clear him and five other defendants of charges arising from an alleged assault two years ago.
"I'm totally relieved and so are my five other colleagues to be totally vindicated," Mr McGrath told The Irish Times last night. "We knew from the outset that we were innocent."
He continued: "I certainly want to meet the Minister for Justice, I have requested a meeting with him for a number of reasons. I want to know the huge costs of the case, not only to me - a fortune - but what it cost the taxpayers."
The case was an expensive one for him: "I expect it will be very near €100,000. The others, thankfully, got free legal aid, all of them." But it didn't end there: "This whole case cost, it must be almost a million, I don't know, I have no idea, but it's huge."
He had already made a complaint to the Garda Ombudsman's office he said, "in relation to the whole handling of the investigation of the alleged incident and a number of issues around it".
He expressed his appreciation for the support he received from his party and constituency colleague Minister of State Martin Mansergh.
"All the time he was quite concerned about it and very supportive and wishing me well. And indeed my [Fine Gael] colleague Tom Hayes was also."
Arising from the case, he also had difficulties at the highest level of the party over ratifying his nomination as a candidate in last year's general election.
"But I, all the time, maintained my total innocence and I felt if they didn't ratify me they were finding me guilty before being tried by court and judge and jury.
"So I had to fight that tooth and nail because I was fighting to preserve my good name and that's all I want to do at any time, it's very valuable to me, apart from being in public life, my good name and my family's and that of my co-accused." If he had been dropped from the ticket he would have taken a case against his own party - "I had no choice, I had to protect my good name."
