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Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland
# prime time remarks
Mick Wallace is seeking legal advice on Shatter's data protection breach
He stressed that if he takes any legal action, it would not be at the taxpayer’s expense.
INDEPENDENT TD MICK Wallace has said he will seek legal advice before deciding on whether he will take the Justice Minister’s data protection breach against him further.
He also repeated his call for the Minister to resign.
A report from the Data Protection Commission found that Minister Alan Shatter broke the law by claiming on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme that Wallace had been stopped and cautioned by gardaí for using his mobile phone while driving.
He received this information from the former Garda Commissioner, who can legally inform a Minister for Justice of relevant matters, something that Wallace said was “questionable from a political point of view”.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Wallace said that “the core” of the matter for him was that Shatter “abused his ministerial office”.
“Legal advisors”
“I am speaking to legal advisors,” the Wexford TD said when questioned on whether he would take further legal action, “I have to see what they advise me to do.”
He added that any legal action “would not be at the taxpayer’s expense”.
“If there’s bills to paid, I’ll pay them”, he said, noting that a number of legal professionals who are “eager for justice to be done” have approached him.
He said that the report revealed that “Minister Shatter has twisted and turned like an eel to avoid any form of censure”.
Wallace reiterated his recollection of events, saying that a garda car had pulled up beside him while he was using a mobile phone at a traffic lights.
However, in the ensuing conversation, he claims that the gardaí made no reference to his use of a mobile phone.
He stressed that he was never against gardaí using discretion on the street, but rather it was the alteration of data on the PULSE system.
Minister Alan Shatter noted last night that he had apologised to Wallace over the remarks, calling them a “mistake”.
Shatter: Prime Time remarks were “a mistake” >
Read: Taoiseach and Tánaiste have confidence in Shatter despite Data Commissioner finding >
