I sent this email to Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice and Equality, this afternoon. I'll let you know if he responds (still waiting to hear from Kenny):
Minister,
following the RTE Prime Time programme which defamed an entirely innocent priest, Fr Kevin Reynolds, you said that the reports left you with “a sense of revulsion at the unspeakable catalogue of abuse against children....While the behaviour took place abroad, we have a solemn duty to do all that is within our power to ensure that perpetrators of this predatory abuse of children are brought to justice wherever it takes place” http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0524/breaking28.html
In short, Minister, you rushed to judgment. It's bad enough to be defamed by the national broadcaster, but to have the Minister for Justice follow up with such comments must have been very difficult for Fr Reynolds.
While RTE has issued a full apology (and presumably will follow up with appropriate compensation) I did not notice you issuing an apology for your comments; perhaps I missed it.
If you haven't issued a public statement on the matter I think you should. And I think that in future you should consider carefully whether it is appropriate for the Minister for Justice to be issuing statements on foot of documentaries rather than convictions in a court of law.
The people will shortly be asked in a referendum to give the Oireachtas and its committees the right to hold investigations and to make judgments as to the balance and fairness of the rights of individuals. Based on the recent record of politicians, including yourself in the Fr Reynolds case and the Taoiseach in his outrageous remarks about the Pope, I think the people will be very reluctant to entrust you with such power.
Yours sincerely,
Brendan Doyle
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