Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon has apologised to former Minister for Justice Alan Shatter after he erroneously claimed that the former Fine Gael TD was named in the Epstein Files.
Gannon was forced to issue an apology and, in the statement, said he agreed to pay damages.
On January 31st, the Dublin Central TD posted what he believed to be a screenshot from the Epstein Files, which claimed that Shatter, then in his role as Minister for Justice, met with the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
First reported by Left In The Lurch, the screenshot originated from a far-right Twitter account named The Flare, which has shared anti-immigrant sentiment on its account.
The post from The Flare was deleted in late December, but the original screenshot still ended up being circulated and was subsequently shared by Gannon in late January.
Gannon sharing the post, which had originated from a far-right news source, raises questions of how the information reached the Social Democrats TD and why he chose to share it without verifying the source of the claim.
Gannon, who serves as the party’s spokesperson on justice, said “I wrongly and mistakenly depicted as having been released with the Epstein files and as recording a meeting involving then Minister for Justice Alan Shatter.”
“The depiction was mistaken and untrue. Despite my subsequently deleting the post, it continued to circulate as a screenshot on social media, and both my original post and its screenshot resulted in Mr Alan Shatter being wrongly targeted, vilified and subject to antisemitic abuse,” he explained.
Gannon said that he and the party “unreservedly apologise” to 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.”
“I acknowledge that Alan Shatter never met or arranged to meet Mr Epstein nor had any relationship or contact with him. The document I wrongly and mistakenly referenced derived from an online record of the travel diary of former US Attorney General Eric Holder,” he said.
“The meeting recorded was an official government engagement in Dublin between then Minister Shatter and Attorney General Holder on the 21st September 2011 and has no connection of any nature to Mr Epstein.
“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.”