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THROUGHOUT THE VARIOUS controversies facing the embattled former Justice Minister Alan Shatter over the last few months, one thing was for certain.
You never had to look to find one of his ministerial colleagues praising his work ethic and legislative zeal.
Even today, as the Government reeled from the bombshell of his resignation, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that his legislative achievements “will stand the test of time”.
After his resignation today, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties expressed its regret at Shatter’s resignation, with director Mark Kelly saying: “His talents and his undoubted mettle will be sorely missed.”
But what exactly did he do during his time as Minister? What were his achievements and what were his failures?
1. Opening up the children’s court to media
Earlier this year, Minister Shatter introduced new rules on the reporting of proceedings in relating to family and child care proceedings in court. Under the new arrangements, the ‘in camera’ status of children’s court proceedings was relaxed, removing what had been seen as a blanket ban on reporting what went on there.
2. Cutting judge’s pay
The Government has not been able to point to many successes among the various referendums it has run since taking office in 2011. Defeats in the Dail inquiries and Seanad abolition bill, among others, have hurt the Government. Shatter did however, manage to deliver a resounding ’yes’ vote of 79.7 per cent for the judicial pay amendment which he steered.
3. Failing to push through troika reforms on legal service
Perhaps it’s more testament to the strength of the legal sector than to Alan Shatter’s abilities as minister, but no meaningful reforms have been achieved of that profession during his tenure. This is despite stipulations to do so from the troika, who fired a parting shot last December criticising the lack of work done in this area.
4. Abortion reform
Pro-choice campaigners have lost a key ally within the Fine Gael fold with Alan Shatter’s departure. His speeches in the Dail on legislating for the X case were seen as among the most progressive by any member of the cabinet, and after the passage of the contentious Protection of Life During Pregnancy bill last year, he said that he wanted to implement further reforms to address abortion for victims of rape or those whose foetus has a fatal abnormality.
5. Same-sex marriage
Last year Alan Shatter announced plans to hold a referendum on same-sex marriage. The referendum is still penciled in for 2015. When the Dail unanimously supported same-sex marriage, the then-Minister said that he and his fellow legislators had “made history”. He also rapped the knuckles of those who sought to make the debate about parenting rather than marriage.
6. Direct Provision
When he was in opposition, the conditions facing asylum seekers in direct provision centres were squarely in Shatter’s crosshairs. He said that conditions were closer to those in prisoner of war camps than the type of approach a modern European country should apply. However, he was most recently seen telling the Dail that he had no plans to end direct provision any time soon, while his vocal opposition had been watered down to an admission that the system “is not ideal”.
7. Citizenship reforms
Alan Shatter was a regular face at ceremonies welcoming new Irish citizens into the national fold. In another move that shows his socially liberal inclinations, early in the Government’s term, he introduced a pacakge of measures to clear the backlog of 22,000 citizenship applications. He said at the time that the process was “unnecessarily complex and obtuse”.
8. Ended slopping out in Mountjoy
Last year, the former Minister announced the end of slopping out in Mountjoy. The practice had long been a target of penal reform groups. He did, however, continue to preside over what he admitted were “less than satisfactory” conditions in Cork and Limerick Prisons.
9. Commitment to closing St Pat’s
Following a recommendation from the Inspector of Prisons, Alan Shatter moved to close the much-maligned Saint Patrick’s Institution last year. The move was welcomed by various charities, including the Peter McVerry trust. Young offenders are being sent to other institutions such as Wheatfield Prison now.
10. Magdalene payments
The payment of compensation to those who were interned within the Magdalene was approved by the then-Minister after survivors had campaigned for justice for decades. Under the redress scheme announced by Alan Shatter last year, women who were incarcerated in the workhouses have been awarded payments of up to €100,000.
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Interesting ploy. Look at the detail in his conditions.
We’ll sell the 29% stake to any *EU* airline, subject to approval from a *majority* of Aer Lingus shareholders.
- So he won’t sell to Etihad, long through to be a potential suitor for Aer Lingus
- He won’t sell a partial stake or reduce their shareholding
- The majority vote likely requires the Irish government to get involved.
What EU airline is going to buy a stake in Aer Lingus? I doubt the other budget players have the cash (or willing), and half the national flag carriers are broke.
This is posturing, not putting the Aer Lingus stake up for sale.
Nail on the head Ronan
its Eu competition law eitihad arent from the eu!
You forgot to mention… We will sell Aer Lingus to any EU airline*
*and then attempt to takeover that airline and get our grubby hands on both out of Irish jurisdiction.
@Paul
I think that’s the point – O’Leary is posturing and bluffing, not actually trying to sell his stake. Etihad are an airline that might actually want to buy the stake, so Ryanair have excluded them from their ‘offer’.
Etihad can never own over 49% of an EU airline due to EU rules, I wonder would they benefit from 30 odd percent in Aer Lingus, to be fair its a pretty damb cheap price if they were..
Etihad can never own over 49% of an EU company….however they own just 29.1% of Air Berlin but they pull the strings. Percentages don’t always give the whole story.
By stipulating “50.1%” and “EU airline only” Ryanair are deliberately excluding the most likely candidate to buy their share of Aer Lingus. No hedge funds and no Ethiad permitted equals PR stunt.
Virgin America is 75% held by a US based holding corporation as Virgin group being British, can’t own an airline in the US.
That’s Business! It’s not Sports! Michael O’Leary is Ireland’s #1 Business Man.
He is a Eire Nua prat
To the reality Tv generation maybe.
Something tells me you also think Justin Bieber is worlds greatest musician….
Great business man… 6 1/2 years of failed attempts and the man can’t pull off a hostile takeover. I think that gets you a spanking at Harvard business school.
But throw his picture in the papers every other week and have all the sheeple dumbed to the point they cant tell whats news or a reality Tv show saying ‘OMG! I like totes can’t believe he said that or is gonna do that, can’t wait to see what happens next week’ and your a great business man by popular vote…
So Andrew – tell me what company you took to the forefront of European business and changed the face of making it copied the world over?
Seamie o Leary admits he copied it from Southwest Airlines in the US after Tony Ryan sent him to take a look at it. Not his idea but having said that it seems to be doing alright.
@ Andrew. Have you ever heard of the long game? Are lingus is just a you for them anyway, it’s Micky mouse.
@ Andrew. Have you ever heard of the long game? Are lingus is just a you for them anyway, it’s Micky mouse.
Brilliant, looks like they have given up on trying to buy Aer Lingus
Or are they attempting to prove that no-one else wants it?
Greatest Irish business, the best of the 21st century!
Greatest Irish business? stupid comment
Please explain how it isn’t a successful business.
It’s a top 3 airliner in Europe originating in one of the smallest countries in the EU.
Just because O’Leary is a pr#^k doesn’t mean he isn’t a great businessman. One of our best.
Yes Adam I agree with you Aer Lingus have been a top class business and a top class employer for three quarters of a century now .
Ryanair has made it affordable to travel. I still find Aer Lingus fares extortionate in most cases. Can you image without the Ryanair competition what Aer Lingus fares would have been during the Celtic Tiger years??
Conor is my brother
Us Powers know what we’re talking sbout
Connor I agree we owe Ryanair a lot as they have made air fares all over Europe cheaper. However I dont think you can claim Aer Lingus is extortionate. Especially when you take into account the extra charges and the airports they fly to.
Ok I’ll tone it down from extortionate to exorbitant.
I’m surprised Aer Lingus haven’t gone out of business with how low their fares are. Flying to Heathrow with AL is cheaper then with Ryanair to a crap airport like Stansted. But yes if it weren’t for Ryanair the fares would be still extremely expensive. AL’s long haul flights are really cheap as well in comparison to all other carriers available when I come home from the US.
Not really the greatest.. not yet.. they still have CRH to contend with and there are a bunch of others around them that you do not hear too much about.. but every bit as innovative and well run..
@ Cooper. Ross is correct. It’s a tactic.
@ Bill. Largely at the tax payers expense. The company hasn’t made a profit in decades. So it’s a badly run inefficient business. In stark contrast to Ryanair which employs many more people and makes a profit.
@cooper. Ryainair revolutionized accessibility to air travel in Europe. Don’t underplay it. Flights to London in the 80s were 500pounds and more.
So you have flown to LHR and stansted and you prefer LHR? Are you insane?
@simonjblake when was the last time taxpayers money was used to prop up Aer Lingus ?
Could you also estimate the massive amount of tax etc paid by its employees over seven decades think you will find the latter greatly exceeds the former and by the way you won’t be paying much tax to the government on a Ryanair minimum wage
Simonjblake I’m not underestimating what Ryanair have done for air travel in Europe I acknowledged it above we owe them alot.
LHR is better for both getting into London and connections onwards. I do it a few times a year
Read Wikipedia and you find the answers to all your remarkable questions. Where do you think the states involvement was upto the 2006 flotation? At 4:1 employee numbers in favour to ryanair you probably are right that more tax is generated by aer Lingus employees due to the fact they are overpaid. If you genuinely believe AL is better then Ryanair then I hope you have no influencial roles in life bar maybe what brand of baked beans your wife buys.
Simonjblake your comment about baked beans kinda gives the game away that you are a Ryanair employee you can’t obviously afford to eat anything else
Why all the begrudgers? 30 years ago Irish people were paying Aer Lingus 200 punts to get to London, today we are paying an equivalent of about 40 punts, thanks to Ryanair.
Michael O’ Leary doesn’t court popularity but he carries multi thousands of Irish and other Europeans to many destinations at very affordable fares.
And if Ryanair take over Aer Lingus then expect extortionate fares all round again. It wasn’t Ryanair that brought prices down. It was competition. O’Leary wants to do away with that now that Ryanair is the larger of the two.
Ive never heard an Irish person say 200 punts.
Only right. It’s like Sky having a 25% stake in UPC. Ridiculous.
Cannot wait until this wee Man falls, just like the mighty Quinn.
It’s far more likely you’ll fall….. and O’Leary wouldn’t give a toss.
He’s not a foolish gambler like Quinn was.
The best thing about Ryanair is that you can avoid most of the plebs when you fly Aer Lingus.
I used to have to travel to Belfast to get home to Scotland pre-ryanair as Aer Lingus was so expensive. Have their critics like all companies but have a big fan here.
Making an offer to sell something to demonstrate a point will have the CC tied up in knots. They cannot consider another EU airline as being substantially any different to Ryanair as regards competition. However, the effect of the combined actions of the UK CC and the Irish Government will be seen to have an effect of the value of the Ryanair shareholding.
This is not an offer to sell. It’s O’Leary holding up a mirror.
Hope they sell to an airline in the Star Alliance.
Why? Why not a One World or Sky Team airline?
Star Alliance are the best quality of the alliances. Aer Lingus is a similar standard so why not?
Michael O’Leary reminds me of Bono. Both prats, but you can’t deny both of them are the heads of very successful international groups.
So, they’re NOT going to sell unless another airline manages to buy 50.1% first?
The British, as usual, have a damned cheek!!
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