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Garda whistleblower John Wilson. Photocall Ireland

Garda whistleblower says Shatter lives in 'an imaginary world'

John Wilson said that he believes the majority of Irish people do not support the Justice Minister.

GARDA WHISTLEBLOWER JOHN Wilson says that yesterday’s Garda Inspectorate report is a “damning indictment” of Garda management.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, Wilson said that Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan ‘inhabit an imaginary world’.

Asked if the Inspectorate’s report vindicated both himself and Maurice McCabe and if he felt the pair were owed an apology, Wilson said:

“The reality is, only two people in this whole country do not accept that we have been completely and totally vindicated by the Inspectorate’s report and the Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports.

But I can’t account for what transpires in the imaginary world that Commissioner Callinan and Minister Shatter inhabit.

Wilson told Gavan Jennings that he believed that the majority of the Irish public did not support either Callinan or Shatter.

Asked about Callinan’s clarification of a remark made at the Public Accounts Committee, where Callinan said that the situation was “disgusting” had “made things worse”.

“The statement makes things worse. He’s now saying that we broke the law. That we deliberately released sensitive documents into the public domain.”

Wilson said that future whistleblowers should not be fearful of coming forward, but added that “as long as Martin Callinan is Commissioner, you’re not going to have many guards coming forward”.

Read: Damning report finds “inconsistent and widespread” breaches of penalty points policy

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Paul Hosford
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