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IN A STINGING press statement released this afternoon, Justice Minister Alan Shatter criticised the Irish Independent for its front-page headline today. The headline, “Shatter – I refuse to reveal if I met Lowry”, has been described by Shatter as “predictably a grossly misleading headline”.
The minister said that the headline “quotes me as saying that ‘I refuse to reveal if I met Lowry’” but that what he had actually said was “As Minister for Justice I am not participating in Independent Newspapers agenda”. This second quote is included in the copy of the Irish Independent article twice.
Shatter claims that the newspaper article is part of “an agenda that has been in play for some time” and that he was subject to a “loaded question” from the Independent’s political editor Fionnan Sheahan. (You can read Shatter’s full statement here).
He goes on to say that the question of whether he met Michael Lowry or not in the days following the publication of the Moriarty Report is “an unethical media project of compiling a blacklist of elected TDs that ministers should not meet on legitimate official business and also with whom no conversations should ever take place”.
He added:
Should Ministers only legitimately engage with those TDs with whose words and deeds, both past and present, they agree or with those approved by the media?
This, he said, is a “slippery slope” with “echoes of the discredited McCarthy era of the 1950s in US politics”.
While the exact nature of the “loaded question” is not clear, the Irish Independent is not the only news outlet that has been posing the question of whether Minister Shatter met with Michael Lowry. TheJournal.ie and other media outlets have been asking that question since Saturday – we were told yesterday by a spokesperson for Shatter that “The Minister hasn’t provided me with an answer”. Juno McEnroe of the Irish Examiner reported on Tuesday of last week that Environment Minister Phil Hogan had with Michael Lowry six days after the release of the Moriarty Report.
When asked by TheJournal.ie if this and other media outlets could then conceivably be included in the minister’s allegations of “an unethical media project of compiling a blacklist of elected TDs that ministers should not meet on legitimate business”, a spokesperson for Minister Shatter said that they were “not sure that the minister will have anything further to add” to today’s statement but understood that the statement was “very specific” to the Independent article.
In March of this year, Alan Shatter, speaking during a debate in the Seanad on privacy legislation, accused some Irish journalists of working toward a “contrived narrative” in their articles. He alleged that some journalists left out details in stories to further this agenda.
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So much whinging Shatter. Maybe you should go off and “get a life” arrogant clown.
You can run but you can’t hide…….
The biggest verbal bloody diarrea I have ever heard! bla bla bla bla bla bla! Jis, I just want to slap him!
This “best means of defence is attack” routine doesn’t wash.
What has he got to defend?
Of course there should be a ‘blacklist’. Any political representative that has used their position for personal gain is not representing their constituents, and are definitely not representing what is best for the country. In my view, those politicians cannot hide behind their position. Any politician who then goes and has ‘meetings’ with these people is choosing to ignore the selfish, self serving and sometimes criminal activities which has to often disgraced the position of TD. When we need honest politicians Mr Shatter, we do not appreciate word games, cowardice or self preservation behaviour.
Well said. The clown dug his own hole and has embarrassed himself yet again. What an imbecile if a man. The majority of people in this country are not as naive as fado fado and can see right through this bluff. ‘McCarthyism’ – Christ how embarrassing, and the pot is only lukewarm. He is equally as weak on the offence as on the defense.
If there is nothing wrong with meeting Lowry, as some posters here suggest, in the aftermath of the most damning report into political corruption in Irish history, then come out and say you did meet him Mr Shatter. Has Lowry an ace in the sleeve or what.
Elected representatives are entitled to meet public officials. The public are entitled to know if any are refused meetings.
Boo hoo ya big sissy.
Good! it’s about time some one stood up to this ridiculous hysteria about about ministers meeting an elected TD representing his constituency on official business.
For gods sake people get a grip.
@ Denis,
Is this what you call ‘standing up to ridiculous hysteria’ Number 1, he’s not standing up, he’s hiding behind his legal verbal diarrea words, bla bla bla bla bla ….. 2, You haven’t seen hysteria yet Denis!
I have to choose sides between FG and The Indo?
FML
Dug a hole for himself… Should have just answered yes or no… Instead of all this nonsense
No its bloody not shatter..we have questions we want answers. We are sick of watching backslappers and glad handlers ruining our country. We are in despair,broken down. We have had enough of line after line of promises and bullshitters and broken promises. You are publicly elected therefore we ask as many questions as we like and you will like it.
I find it highly ironic that he likens this to McCarthyism yet he was trying to have a bill passed that was in effect McCarthyism in October
I didnt know Lowry was a commie.
Good! About time someone stood up to the ridiculous hysteria about ministers meeting an elected TD representing his constituency on official business.
Get a grip people, I’m sure you can find some other excuse to whine about the government
Why the surprise and indignation? Since when has it being expected for a politician to give a straight answer to any questions? They couldn’t tell you the time of day without hedging.
There is an element of FF hacks in the media using this to trip up FG. On the other hand if Government Ministers are meeting Lowry on the basis that he is a democratically elected TD then they should just come out and say that much.
It does raise questions however about how Lowry, an ‘independent’ TD, seems to get so much time with FG government ministers.
I agree with most of what you say but think it’s about time we hold these politicians, actually any politician, to account on their own behaviour and stop letting them hide behind this idea that there’s a big bad FF out there responsible for all the woes of the world.
Had Lowrys dodgey dealings with O’Brien not come to the publics attention he would still be a member of FG and his party colleagues would have kept their mouths shut and we would be none the wiser.
Ann Reddin, Lowry was expelled from FG after McCracken tribunal in 1996, which concerned his dealings with Ben Dunne. Moriarty dealt with esat-digiphone and D O’Brien. Don’t let well known easily accessible facts get in the way of your rant though, it’s good to vent!
Something fishy here. If the meeting was above board why not just admit to it?
Shatter should have been clear in the answer and the Independent group are certainly a collection of rag papers, with blatant agenda’s, low standards and sub-standard journalists.
Bit like our current government?
Perhaps Shatter is in cahoots with one of the Indo’s major shareholders to inflate dead stories in an effort to boost its flagging readership.
This goon should take a bit of his own advice and “get a life”.
Clown.
Boy oh boy, it didn’t take long for the arrogance of Fine Gael to show its ugly head.
I dislike The Irish Independent as much as the next sensible thinking consumer [it is, I agree, a grubby tabloid masquerading as a serious newspaper] but I think the question that was asked of him by the newspaper was valid..
I think he should answer the following:
Did you, the current Minister for JUSTICE, have a secret meeting with Michael Lowry TD, found by a Tribunal to be involved in a matter which was “profoundly corrupt to a degree that was nothing short of breathtaking”?
Just answer it: “Yes” or “No”, you arrogant snob!
Well he can certainly pen a decent rebuttal!
Well done Shatter. I hear echoes of The Suns ‘campaign’ against pedophiles. The problem is that Lowry keeps topping the polls in North Tipp. Like it or not he’s entitled to work as a TD and no one can democratically refuse to meet him. Lowry indignation is tomorrows chip wrapper.
The issue is why he won’t answer a simple question, not who he met, and your ‘look over there’ tactic isn’t really convincing either.
Martin Ferris has a criminal record for gun running. So he should never get to meet a minister? Gerry Adams, like Lowry has no conviction but long regarded as a senior member of the IRA army councill. Ministers should never meet him? What about McGuiness? There are books written about his IRA involvement…
In fairness, regardless of anything else, the headline didnt exactly reflect the quote
Also the political editor of the Indo, Fionnan Sheehan, is married to Averill Power, a Fianna Fail politician. Thats a serious conflict of interest there so its hard to take their articles as unbiased
Whoo there horse, strikes me as a bit of McCarthyism in that statement.
A paper with form: http://www.thejournal.ie/polish-ambassador-responds-to-irish-independents-magda-dole-article-343386-Feb2012/
Bull Shatter !!!!!
In fairness though, the Independent *is* a gutter rag with an agenda.
I told people not to vote for Fine Gael.
For once could people just concentrate on the fact that the Indo group are in a massive war with O Brien and will do anything to discredit anyone who even looks sideways at him. This doesn’t take away from the tribunal findings about O Brien, Lowry or any other shyster found against. The above comments are just feeding into more of the Indos agenda. Time to move on.
It is somewhat hypocritical how ‘politicians’ are lambasted by society as a dishonest selfserving subclass, a different species; when in fact they are elected by that same society and are, in their sheer numbers in the dail, not a bad sample size of the population at large. They are part of we.
Anything wrong with politicians? It is discomfortingly too close to looking in the mirror for most of us.
The loudest of the begrudgers? Get out of your armchair and get elected if you think you occupy a highground and speak for the people.
The first politician to tell the unvarnished truth about anything will find it hard to be re-elected.
Sad, but true
A man without a clue
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