Alan Shatter savages government handling of 'law and order'

Alan Shatter has slated how the Government is handling the justice and defence briefs as he argued there is a “failure to ensure that issues of law and order are adequately addressed”.

The Former Fine Gael TD, 73, has announced that he would run as an independent candidate in the upcoming general election in the Dublin Rathdown constituency.

Speaking to the Irish Mirror, Mr Shatter joked that he has been advised to tell voters he has “an aspiration to get into the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest comeback kid in politics”.

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He lost his seat in 2016 and resigned from Fine Gael two years later.

In the last year, he said, he was approached by constituents “urging” him to run for election because they were “disillusioned with aspects of government policy” but were “not prone to supporting Sinn Fein”.

He said he believes the Government has dealt with some issues “extremely well”, pointing to the improved economy, falling inflation and employment.

However, Mr Shatter also said there is a “whole range of things that have completely failed to properly address”.

This, he said, included in the Justice and Defence portfolios he previously held that are now under the stewardship of Helen McEntee and Micheál Martin respectively.

He argued that during the financial crash, the Troika sought to reduce the strength of the Defence Forces from 9,500 to 7,500 and the Gardaí from 13,700 to 12,000, but these calls were resisted. Despite a rising population, there are now 7,426 permanent Defence personnel and 14,058 Gardaí.

Mr Shatter was sharply critical of how crime is being tackled.

He said: “There's a massive problem of shoplifting within Dublin city and county.

“People are frightened to go into the centre of Dublin in the evening time. There's observable dealing in drugs along the Liffey, in some of the side streets in Temple Bar.

“There's a huge, huge failure to ensure that issues of law and order are adequately addressed.

“Frequently, there are public events where the Minister [McEntee] is saying things or making speeches in which promises are made to do good things, where there is practicable action necessary, but nothing ever appears out of the system.

“There are huge problems in the justice area.”

News that the former minister would run in the upcoming election started circulating online on Thursday afternoon when a picture of his leaflet was posted on X following a “leak”.

Mr Shatter said he was trying to decide if he is “certifiable or just a masochist” by running for office after “being on the sidelines for the last eight years”,

His longstanding opposition to inheritance tax saw him re-emerge on the political stage in September when he hosted a public meeting attended by over 250 people calling for its abolition.

One of the main elements of his campaign will be to abolish the tax, saying that Finance Minister Jack Chambers did not go far enough in Budget 2025 by “tinkering” with the thresholds.

While the issue may be a hot topic in the Dublin Rathdown Constituency, Mr Shatter accepts that it is not universal.

This is why he insists it is not the only election priority. He highlighted areas that have been “neglected” or “dealt with incompetently,” including how our senior citizens are treated.

“It’s forgotten that seniors, be they retired or not retired, have hopes and aspirations,” he said.

“They're deserving of the same consideration as others. Through the political prism of all of the parties, including the current government, the perspective of seniors is that they are individuals to receive financial benefits through budgets.

“But there are other areas that there's no discussion of, that no one is considering and no one's addressing.”

Mr Shatter said this does involve inheritance tax, but also “grossly inadequate” ambulance and emergency health services. He argued older people are “terrified of going to A&E” due to pressure on services that are “understaffed.”

On the other end of the scale, Mr Shatter has said there has been a “total failure” to “adequately address a whole range of issues affecting children”.

This includes long waiting lists for spinal conditions and the thousands of children waiting for Assessments of Needs for autism provisions.

He added: “[There is] the bizarre situation where a children's hospital that should have cost €650 million and was supposed to be open by 2018 is going to cost €2.5bn and is unlikely to be open fully to 2026 or 2027.

Mr Shatter resigned as Fine Gael Justice Minister in 2014 following the publication of a report into allegations made by Garda Whistleblower Maurice McCabe. The Court of Appeal subsequently made a declaration that conclusions in the report, which were critical of him, were reached in breach of fair procedures and constitutional and natural justice.

Over a decade on, he insisted resentment would not feature in his campaign.

“It is a critique I could make of both the conduct of my former colleagues and of Fianna Fáil on that particular issue,” he said.

“I am a great believer in looking to the future. I don't think I'm going to get elected by engaging in a Donald Trumpian type of grievance campaign.

“I just think I bring a level of expertise and experience and wisdom that I would like to apply to public benefit.

“I can’t do so sitting on a bench in my back garden, focusing on the past. I hope I'll get support that will get me re-elected.

“I’ve no certainty that will happen, but I thought it was worthwhile putting my name forward.”

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