Alan Shatter, the Fine Gael TD for Dublin South and former Justice Minister, appeared on Newstalk earlier today, where he revealed a hidden passion to presenter Sean Moncrieff – that he loves to write poetry.
The TD, who resigned from the cabinet in May 2014, told Moncrieff that he was hoping to be selected to contest the next general election, but acknowledged that he first needed to secure the Fine Gael nomination. Dublin South, which currently has five seats, will change to Dublin Rathdown, and will only elect three deputies to the next Dáil.
On the matter of his poetry, Mr Shatter explained that he writes verse as a way of relaxing from the stressful work of political office.
"I do it, I suppose... one, because it is fantastic distraction from politics, it gives you a fantastic opportunity to relax and think outside the box," he said.
Despite the fact that the former minister has a well-known literary past (having made headlines when his novel Laura was considered by the Censorship of Publications Board for indecency in 2013), Mr Shatter explained that he had not been particularly forthcoming with his poetry.
He proceeded to read two of his poems to Sean Moncrieff and Newstalk's listeners. The first, Fly a Kite, is about the pressures of social media and the digital world impinging on interpersonal relationships and having fun in the real world. You can read the full text below, and hear Mr Shatter reading the poem here: His second poem Sirens, darker in tone, relates to the history of suicide bombing in Israel in 2003. You can hear the former minister recite the poem here and read the full text below:
You listen back to Sean's full interview with the former minister below:
