Ireland's Justice Minister quits

Ireland's justice minister has quit after a report found his attempts at independence in probing whistleblowing claims were "inadequate".

Ireland's Justice Minister Alan Shatter has resigned after receiving a report into claims made by a police whistleblower, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has announced.

Kenny on Wednesday told the Dail, the Irish parliament, that the soon-to-be-published report found Shatter's attempts at independence in investigating the whistleblowing claims to be "inadequate".

"The report is critical of the inadequacy of the actions of a number of agencies, notably the Garda Siochana (police), the Department of Justice and Equality and the minister.

"He made up his mind and handed in his resignation, which I accepted with a reluctance."

Shatter has been under pressure over claims that he was too close to police commissioner Martin Callinan, but survived a vote of confidence last month.

The whistleblower claimed that senior officers had allowed penalty points to be removed from the driving licenses of well-connected offenders.

In his resignation note, Shatter disputed "certain conclusions" within the report but said that he did not want it to "distract from the important work of government". AFP ar


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