Politics

Former Fine Gael minister Alan Shatter to run as Independent candidate in general election

Leaflet says Shatter decided to ‘throw my name in the ring’, eight years on from losing his seat in the Dáil

Alan Shatter was a TD for 30 years, losing his seat in the 2016 general election. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
Alan Shatter was a TD for 30 years, losing his seat in the 2016 general election. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times
Sarah Burns
Thu Oct 17 2024 - 19:47

Former Fine Gael minister Alan Shatter is running as an Independent candidate in the next general election.

Mr Shatter is running for election in Dublin-Rathdown more than eight years on from when he lost his Dáil seat.

The former minister for justice has said he has decided to “throw my name in the ring” and stand for the Dáil as he was urged to do so by many residents in the South Dublin constituency over the past year.

In an election leaflet, he says the national parliament needs “independent politicians you can rely upon to tell you the truth, even when it is difficult”.

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Mr Shatter said he made the decision to run this week after people in his constituency had been “urging” him to and telling him he had “to get back into politics”.

The former Fine Gael TD had been involved in an inheritance tax reform campaign, with a local public meeting held in September.

“At the public meeting there were huge calls for me to run, I said I would think about it and was then inundated with emails from people who had been at the meeting,” he said.

“I had a consultation with my family, some of whom think I’m completely crazy to get back into politics, which is understandable and basically I decided I was fed up of being on the sidelines watching things being poorly dealt with and I’m concerned about issues which extend beyond the inheritance tax issue.”

Mr Shatter added that he ceased to be a member of Fine Gael in 2018 and that under the party’s current leadership “major policy areas are not being dealt with adequately”.

“I think I still have something beneficial to offer in those areas and I decided to put my name forward,” he added. “I don’t expect I’ve more than a 50 per cent chance of being successful. It’s a four-seater, I expect the Government parties will probably win three of them and that I will be in a battle for the fourth seat with Sinn Féin, other parties and any other Independent who is running.”

Mr Shatter was a TD for 30 years, losing his seat in the 2016 general election. He served as minister for justice between 2011 and 2014 in the Fine Gael-Labour Government.

Alan Shatter's general election leaflet
Alan Shatter's general election leaflet

In May 2014, the report of barrister Seán Guerin, enlisted by the Government to review allegations made by Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe about police misconduct, was published, resulting in Mr Shatter’s resignation from cabinet.

Mr Guerin had expressed concern in his report about the adequacy of the investigation of Mr McCabe’s complaints by Mr Shatter as minister for justice. Then taoiseach Enda Kenny told Mr Shatter privately that he could no longer express confidence as a result.

In 2016, a commission of inquiry, the O’Higgins Commission, found that Mr Shatter had responded properly and appropriately as minister to the complaints raised by Mr McCabe. A Supreme Court ruling in February 2019 overturned Mr Guerin’s findings against Mr Shatter.

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns is a reporter for The Irish Times