On Tuesday, July 7, Eire’s Taoiseach Micheal Martin stood earlier than the Eu Parliament to ship the normal speech made by means of top ministers upon their state assuming its six-month presidency of the Council of the Eu Union.
In it, he depicted his govt’s presidential priorities. Probably the most 3 priorities defined used to be “the need to protect the fundamental values on which our Union is built at home and abroad.” At the factor of values, he asserted that “without upholding our values, we will not have a Union in which our people can flourish and which we are proud to call home.”
In its printed program for the presidency, the Irish govt pledged to advertise and uphold elementary rights, democratic values, the rule of thumb of regulation, give protection to minorities from discrimination, take on antisemitism, and advertise social concord.
In a rhetorical flourish, Martin advised the parliament that “Europe believes in respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights – including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.”
PROTESTERS CALL at the Irish govt to impose sanctions on Israel, in Dublin, closing month. Over time, Eire has taken a extra anti-Israel place than maximum Eu or Western international locations, states the creator. (credit score: CLODAGH KILCOYNE/REUTERS)
He additionally asserted that “We must defend and vindicate these values – both within Europe and globally – and this Parliament has a vital role to play.”
Apparently, in his speech, Martin didn’t check with antisemitism. However he did platform Eire’s unbalanced standpoint at the Heart East and anti-Israel hostility. He advised the parliament that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. The situation in the West Bank is deteriorating.
“The behavior of the Netanyahu government is increasingly extreme. There are no democratic or humanitarian values flexible enough to justify the scale of death, destruction, and displacement we have seen. It is a cause of deep and justified sadness and anger to many that Europe has not done enough to put pressure on Israel in the light of its egregious actions.”
There’s credible and considerable grievance that may be justifiably voiced of Top Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s govt. It’s rightly criticized by means of a majority of Israelis for plenty of causes now not articulated by means of Martin. I additionally don’t disagree with its depiction by means of Martin as “increasingly extreme,” nor along with his worry about some occasions within the West Financial institution.
However the battle of the closing 3 years is egregiously distorted by means of an Israel-demonizing depiction that excludes all connection with Iran, Lebanon, Hamas, Hezbollah, the UNSC answer embracing Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, the Israel-Lebanon settlement, and the US-Iran ceasefire settlement and occasions since.
Additionally it is distorted when referencing Gaza, whilst omitting any connection with Hamas’s habits on and because October 7, its refusal to disarm, and obstructing implementation of the UNSC answer.
At the factor of “values,” Martin’s speech used to be a spectacle of unbridled hypocrisy. Within the Irish govt’s program for the presidency, it guarantees to “demonstrate” that the values it promotes “are not just abstract ideals but practical principles, including the rule of law which underpins the fairness, trust, and stability” of our gadget and “democratic values.” In the true global, that is simply nauseating hyperbole.
It’s now simply over 10 years since pass judgement on Kevin O’Higgins, a former pass judgement on of the Eu Court docket and Eire’s Top Court docket, having chaired a statutory Fee of Investigation, printed a record through which false allegations made towards me when Eire’s justice minister used to be decided to be unfaithful and my ministerial habits used to be praised.
The allegations have been at the start considerably promoted by means of then opposition chief, nowadays’s Taoiseach Fianna Fail’s Micheal Martin in a press match held throughout the precincts of Leinster Area, Eire’s parliamentary construction, in February 2014, repeated within the Dail chamber, promoted by means of broadcast and print media, and ended in a initial “scoping” record of a barrister, Mr Sean Guerin SC, the present chair of the Bar Council of Eire.
In Guerin’s record, I used to be condemned and not using a listening to, leading to then Taoiseach Enda Kenny forcing my ministerial resignation after virtually 30 years as a Dail member.
Having been utterly vindicated by means of O’Higgins in 2016, after 5 years of hectic litigation, Eire’s Very best Court docket decided in February 2019 that Guerin had no remit to criticize my ministerial habits and, as did the Court docket of Enchantment over two years previous, decided I have been denied truthful procedures, an even listening to, and constitutional justice. Guerin hasn’t ever apologized for his deeply mistaken “scoping exercise” and record.
The Guerin Record ended my ministerial profession, vastly broken my political credibility and popularity, ended in my being handled by means of many as a pariah, my being focused with antisemitic hate, together with loss of life threats, considerably contributed to my now not being re-elected in 2016 and, regardless of my vindication, its narrative partly undermined my failed normal election strive in 2024.
The reputational harm it led to stays in other people’s awareness; it’s nonetheless promoted by means of some and used to be exacerbated by means of an peculiar collection of alternative false allegations promoted in 2013 and within the first quarter of 2014, all later decided to be completely unfaithful by means of different unbiased judicial inquiries and investigations.
The tsunami of falsity used to be unparalleled. It used to be accompanied by means of my being beneath constant antisemitic assault on social media and different antisemitic acts, and whether or not antisemitism used to be a background issue used to be now not an issue of any inquiry.
The Very best Court docket decided that Guerin acted as an organ of the Irish state. Regardless of the numerous a hit battles I fought to determine the reality, the reputational harm, and tension as a consequence of his record 12 years in the past continues to blight my lifestyles.
In December 2020, virtually two years after the Very best Court docket’s choice and over 4 years after the O’Higgins Record, Martin, as Taoiseach, after all knowledgeable the Dail that the false content material contained within the Guerin Record have been redacted and an amended model of the record lodged within the Parliamentary library along side the Very best Court docket judgments.
Looking forward to an apology
In July 2023, then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, chief of the Tremendous Gael celebration of which I had remained a member till 2018, made the next commentary within the Dail:
“In May 2014, a report of the government established non-statutory inquiry – the Guerin Report – was published and was critical of Mr Shatter’s conduct as Minister for Justice and Equality. The government acknowledges that Alan Shatter’s conduct as a minister was subsequently vindicated by the O’Higgins Commission in its report, which was published in May 2016.
“Moreover, in legal proceedings that culminated in a decision of the Supreme Court in February 2019, it was found that Mr Shatter had not been afforded fair procedures in the course of the inquiry. Certainly, in my view, Mr Shatter was not fairly treated by an organ of the state. I wish to acknowledge that in the chamber today.”
As in Micheal Martin’s December 2020 Dail commentary, Varadkar overlooked any apology on behalf of the state for what passed off. His commentary used to be non-public.
Within the length previous Varadkar’s Dail commentary, I had, at Varadkar’s initiative, been without delay engaged with Eire’s lawyer normal within the preparation of a suitable apology on behalf of the state for Guerin’s mistaken record and its ensuing non-public harm. In 2023, Varadkar knowledgeable me Martin blocked the apology.
Precedent has lengthy established that an Irish govt acknowledgement that an individual used to be wronged by means of an organ or agent of the state is accompanied by means of a proper apology on behalf of the state. A Very best Court docket judgement that an individual used to be wronged by means of a state company additionally in most cases ends up in an apology by means of that company or a state apology.
Over seven years in the past, the Very best Court docket discovered Guerin acted as an organ of the Irish state. Throughout 2025, I wrote to each Micheal Martin and Simon Harris, Tremendous Gael’s present chief and deputy top minister, a number of occasions asking that I obtain the apology to which my circle of relatives and I are entitled.
A few of these occasions have been prior to now referenced on this paper by means of Maurice Cohen, chair of Eire’s Jewish Consultant Council, in a piece of writing printed on October 21, 2021, titled “Alan Shatter is Ireland’s Alfred Dreyfus.”
I consider that my circle of relatives and I are entitled to an Irish state apology. Within the gentle of my revel in, Micheal Martin’s and the Irish govt’s rhetoric about upholding the rule of thumb of regulation and elementary values completely lacks credibility and will have to be afforded none by means of different EU states.
The Dreyfus Affair roiled France from 1894 till 1906. However no less than in France it generated controversy. Had Alfred Dreyfus been wrongly condemned in Twenty first-century Eire, his plight would had been utterly overlooked, and all eyes prevented.
That, in itself, starkly illustrates the hypocrisy of Martin’s speech to the Eu Parliament and of the commitments contained in his Govt’s EU presidency program.
The creator used to be a TD 1981-2002, 2007-2016. He’s a former minister for justice, equality, and protection; a former member of the EU Council of Justice and House Affairs Ministers and Council of Protection Ministers; and chaired each councils right through Eire’s 2013 EU presidency. A former member of a lot of Irish parliamentary committees, together with the Justice and Protection Committee and the International Affairs Committee, which he chaired. He’s additionally a legal professional and writer. He’s lately chairperson of Magen David Adom Eire and a member of the forums of the unbiased Israel Council on International Family members and of MEMRI, the Heart East Media Analysis Institute.
