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Frenzy and Betrayal: The Anatomy of a Political Assassination
On 6 May 2014, two reports wrongly condemning the conduct of Alan Shatter, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, were delivered to government buildings in Dublin. Pressurised by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Shatter resigned from cabinet the next day, his reputation and political career in tatters. A frenzied media and political reaction to alleged bugging of the Garda Ombudsman Commission’s offices and an avalanche of allegations of Garda corruption put Shatter in the eye of a storm. He was wrongly accused of covering up espionage and corruption, ignoring concerns of whistle-blowers, spying on political opponents, and of undermining the administration of justice. Damaged by false narratives and political manoeuvring by Kenny, Shatter, a TD for over thirty years, lost his Dáil seat in 2016.
Pilloried by opposition politicians, journalists and commentators, targeted by a cabinet colleague and condemned without a fair hearing, Shatter was abandoned by his Fine Gael party colleagues. From the penalty points controversy, to the discovery of unknown phone tapping in Garda stations, to the explosive Charleton Report , this is the extraordinary inside story of a cataclysmic period in Irish politics.
Compelling and sardonic, Frenzy and Betrayal is the deeply disturbing story of how a dedicated, truthful and progressive Irish cabinet minister was falsely accused of wrongdoing and unjustly hounded from office in twenty-first-century Ireland, and his traumatic five-year battle for vindication and the truth.
Pilloried by opposition politicians, journalists and commentators, targeted by a cabinet colleague and condemned without a fair hearing, Shatter was abandoned by his Fine Gael party colleagues. From the penalty points controversy, to the discovery of unknown phone tapping in Garda stations, to the explosive Charleton Report , this is the extraordinary inside story of a cataclysmic period in Irish politics.
Compelling and sardonic, Frenzy and Betrayal is the deeply disturbing story of how a dedicated, truthful and progressive Irish cabinet minister was falsely accused of wrongdoing and unjustly hounded from office in twenty-first-century Ireland, and his traumatic five-year battle for vindication and the truth.
458 pages, Paperback
Published July 20, 2019
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About the author
Alan Shatter
6 booksAlan has always been a resident of South Dublin . Originally living in Rathgar, when Alan was 4 his parents moved to Crannagh Park, Rathfarnham where he lived for 35 years. For the last 17 years Alan and his family have resided in Ballinteer.
Alan was a pupil in Rathgar National School and then High School. He obtained a Law Degree in Trinity College Dublin and attended the Europa Instituut of the University of Amsterdam where he studied European Law, Politics and Economics. As a teenager, Alan played schoolboy league Soccer and was an athlete competing for both High School and for Crusaders Athletic Club. He was High School Athletics Captain for two years and obtained his university athletic colours running for Trinity College .
More recently, Alan played League Table Tennis for some years with Dundrum Table Tennis Club.
As a student, Alan was Director of the Crumlin Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) and later became Chairman of FLAC. He subsequently became Chairman of CARE (Campaign for Deprived Children) and was for many years President of the Irish Council against Blood Sports.
In 1976 Alan qualified as a Solicitor. In 1977 he became partner with Brian Gallagher and the well known solicitor’s practice of Gallagher Shatter came into being. In 1977 he published “Family Law in the Republic of Ireland ” the first major academic and social commentary on Irish family law. This work which is now in its 4 th Edition has regularly been relied upon and referred to by members of the judiciary in judgments delivered in many major Irish family law cases. Each Edition has contained many proposals for family law reform originated by Alan Shatter designed to transform and modernise the Irish legal system. As a Dail Deputy Alan was instrumental in the implementation of many of these reforms.
In 1979 Alan published a satirical work “Family Planning Irish Style” which poked fun at the then ludicrous contraceptive laws which made it a criminal offence to sell condoms and which interfered with people’s right to privacy. In 1989 Alan published a novel “Laura”. Both publications featured as best sellers.
In the period 1979 to 1981, Alan regularly featured on the Gay Byrne Radio Show answering listener’s questions about personal and legal issues and he has over the years been a regular participant in current affairs and other programmes on television and radio.
Whilst making a noticeable impact on national politics as a reforming legislator willing to confront controversial issues, Alan continued to maintain his involvement with his law firm Gallagher Shatter. The firm has grown over the years and has been involved in many landmark cases. Whilst Alan is well known for his work in family law his legal firm was instrumental in having income tax laws which discriminated against married couples declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It also was successful in obtaining a decision from the European Court to end social welfare discrimination against married women. In the early 1990’s, his law firm took the first successful case to obtain damages for a former altar boy sexually abused by a priest and it was represented many victims of institutional sexual abuse before the Redress Board which conducts its hearings in Clonskeagh.
Alan Shatter is one of the few solicitors who regularly acts as an Advocate in both the High Court and Supreme Court. He is a former Consultant on Family Law to the Law Society of Ireland and continues to lecture occasionally and write on family law issues. He is also an accredited ADR Group/Friary Law Mediator and a Fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
Alan was a pupil in Rathgar National School and then High School. He obtained a Law Degree in Trinity College Dublin and attended the Europa Instituut of the University of Amsterdam where he studied European Law, Politics and Economics. As a teenager, Alan played schoolboy league Soccer and was an athlete competing for both High School and for Crusaders Athletic Club. He was High School Athletics Captain for two years and obtained his university athletic colours running for Trinity College .
More recently, Alan played League Table Tennis for some years with Dundrum Table Tennis Club.
As a student, Alan was Director of the Crumlin Free Legal Advice Centre (FLAC) and later became Chairman of FLAC. He subsequently became Chairman of CARE (Campaign for Deprived Children) and was for many years President of the Irish Council against Blood Sports.
In 1976 Alan qualified as a Solicitor. In 1977 he became partner with Brian Gallagher and the well known solicitor’s practice of Gallagher Shatter came into being. In 1977 he published “Family Law in the Republic of Ireland ” the first major academic and social commentary on Irish family law. This work which is now in its 4 th Edition has regularly been relied upon and referred to by members of the judiciary in judgments delivered in many major Irish family law cases. Each Edition has contained many proposals for family law reform originated by Alan Shatter designed to transform and modernise the Irish legal system. As a Dail Deputy Alan was instrumental in the implementation of many of these reforms.
In 1979 Alan published a satirical work “Family Planning Irish Style” which poked fun at the then ludicrous contraceptive laws which made it a criminal offence to sell condoms and which interfered with people’s right to privacy. In 1989 Alan published a novel “Laura”. Both publications featured as best sellers.
In the period 1979 to 1981, Alan regularly featured on the Gay Byrne Radio Show answering listener’s questions about personal and legal issues and he has over the years been a regular participant in current affairs and other programmes on television and radio.
Whilst making a noticeable impact on national politics as a reforming legislator willing to confront controversial issues, Alan continued to maintain his involvement with his law firm Gallagher Shatter. The firm has grown over the years and has been involved in many landmark cases. Whilst Alan is well known for his work in family law his legal firm was instrumental in having income tax laws which discriminated against married couples declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It also was successful in obtaining a decision from the European Court to end social welfare discrimination against married women. In the early 1990’s, his law firm took the first successful case to obtain damages for a former altar boy sexually abused by a priest and it was represented many victims of institutional sexual abuse before the Redress Board which conducts its hearings in Clonskeagh.
Alan Shatter is one of the few solicitors who regularly acts as an Advocate in both the High Court and Supreme Court. He is a former Consultant on Family Law to the Law Society of Ireland and continues to lecture occasionally and write on family law issues. He is also an accredited ADR Group/Friary Law Mediator and a Fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 5, 2023
I always thought Alan Shatter was scapegoated for the penalty points affair (basically, senior police in Ireland were accused of cancelling motoring penalty points for friends) and he lost his career as Justice Minister as a result. As in all cases of scapegoating, there is a back-story, and I thought this book might be it.
While the book goes into forensic detail to make the case that he had done nothing wrong (and indeed gives examples of where the penalty points were cancelled for good reason - eg, in one case an off-duty police officer used an uncalibrated speed gun), and many other details which show political and media figures in a bad light, it does not explain the zeal and enthusiasm these people have put into assassinating his character. I am curious about this man who seems to have made enemies while clearly upholding the highest standards in public office. He does mention anti-Semitism (he is Jewish); had I read this book up to five years ago, I would have thought that theory very far-fetched, as I thought anti-Semitism would be rare in modern Ireland, but, having seen racism rear its ugly head in recent years, I've been thinking that there is indeed an undercurrent of "otherism" in our society. However, I doubt very much that any of the people who stitched him up are, or were, anti-Semitic; it looks more like old-fashioned political rivalry and I also suspect he is a victim of a peculiar strand of Irish begrudgery which makes people hate someone just for making them look bad
This book is a hard read because there is so much detail in it; you would need to be very interested in the topic to read it right through (I admit I skimmed it, then went back and read it properly). It would benefit from a bit of editing because much of it is repetitive. While he is an eloquent public speaker, this book is rather prosaic and has a very bitter tone - which gives it the ring of truth. The quotes from Machiavelli etc are superfluous and take away from the stark simplicity of the story of a man who has been hounded out of public office.
I have also bought Mr Shatter's novel (his only work of fiction, as far as I know) because I believe there is more truth to be found in fiction than in factual books (due to the need to prove everything); fiction can be a window into a writer's soul; at the very least, it affords us the opportunity to read between the lines in the way factual stories cannot.
While the book goes into forensic detail to make the case that he had done nothing wrong (and indeed gives examples of where the penalty points were cancelled for good reason - eg, in one case an off-duty police officer used an uncalibrated speed gun), and many other details which show political and media figures in a bad light, it does not explain the zeal and enthusiasm these people have put into assassinating his character. I am curious about this man who seems to have made enemies while clearly upholding the highest standards in public office. He does mention anti-Semitism (he is Jewish); had I read this book up to five years ago, I would have thought that theory very far-fetched, as I thought anti-Semitism would be rare in modern Ireland, but, having seen racism rear its ugly head in recent years, I've been thinking that there is indeed an undercurrent of "otherism" in our society. However, I doubt very much that any of the people who stitched him up are, or were, anti-Semitic; it looks more like old-fashioned political rivalry and I also suspect he is a victim of a peculiar strand of Irish begrudgery which makes people hate someone just for making them look bad
This book is a hard read because there is so much detail in it; you would need to be very interested in the topic to read it right through (I admit I skimmed it, then went back and read it properly). It would benefit from a bit of editing because much of it is repetitive. While he is an eloquent public speaker, this book is rather prosaic and has a very bitter tone - which gives it the ring of truth. The quotes from Machiavelli etc are superfluous and take away from the stark simplicity of the story of a man who has been hounded out of public office.
I have also bought Mr Shatter's novel (his only work of fiction, as far as I know) because I believe there is more truth to be found in fiction than in factual books (due to the need to prove everything); fiction can be a window into a writer's soul; at the very least, it affords us the opportunity to read between the lines in the way factual stories cannot.
November 11, 2023
Great read treated very badly by colleagues not nice
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews