SOCIAL DEMOCRATS TD Gary Gannon has apologised and agreed to pay damages to former justice minister Alan Shatter for sharing an image of a document that falsely depicted a meeting scheduled between him and Jeffrey Epstein.

Gannon shared an image on social media which he admitted today was “mistaken and untrue” in its depiction of a scheduled meeting between Shatter and the convicted sex offender.

As The Journal FactCheck reported, the itinerary was actually that of then-US attorney general Eric Holder, not Epstein. 

In a statement issued this evening, Gannon said: 

“The depiction was mistaken and untrue. Despite my subsequently deleting the post it continued to circulate as a screen shot on social media and both my original post and its screen shot resulted in Mr Alan Shatter being wrongly targeted, vilified and subject to antisemitic abuse.”

Gannon said that he and the Social Democrats party “unreservedly apologise to Mr Alan Shatter for all damage and hurt caused and ask that no further reliance be placed on my post and that there be an end to any repetition of the hurtful and abusive narratives it instigated”.

He acknowledged that Shatter “never met or arranged to meet Mr Epstein nor had any relationship or contact with him”, and confirmed that the image of the document he shared showed Holder’s itinerary. 

“The meeting recorded was an official government engagement in Dublin between then Minister Shatter and Attorney General Holder on 21 September 2011 and has no connection of any nature to Mr Epstein,” Gannon said.

“I appreciate Alan Shatter agreeing to resolve this matter by the issuing of this statement and the payment of an agreed sum by way of damages.”