Inquiries may be a casualty of Shatter’s recent vindication

Alan Shatter’s legal victory may be a Pyrrhic one, but it leaves the future of the preliminary inquiries in some doubt

As Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill gets set to report on the latest garda whistleblower controversy, the future of preliminary, non-statutory inquiries appears to be in jeopardy.

This short, sharp and cost-effective scoping exercise has been a preferred tool of the current and last government in determining whether full blown commissions of investigation, with all their attendant expenses, are warranted.

Two preliminary reviews into claims of garda bullying and alleged Olympic ticket touting are ...