Frances Fitzgerald caught up in breath-test scandal; Tánaiste and Garda boss called to resign
As it emerged that thousands of drivers wrongly convicted could be in line for compensation, Ms Fitzgerald was accused of “doing nothing” about the scandal despite knowing about it for nine months.
Breaking her silence on the matter, in an astonishing admission, the Tánaiste said that she only learned of the scale of the breath test scandal when she saw a Garda press conference last week, despite concerns being raised as far back as 2014.
Commissioner O’Sullivan has until tomorrow to salvage her credibility or risk the stability of the minority government as Fianna Fáil warned they will “consider their options” based on how she performs at an emergency meeting of the Oireachtas Justice Committee.
Last night, the independent Police Authority heaped further pressure on the commissioner saying it “has not yet been provided with the full internal reports or indeed a clear sense of how these matters have been handled to date within the Garda Síochána”.
The authority has given Ms O’Sullivan until Friday to submit the information. It turned down her request for the Garda Inspectorate to examine the breath test scandal.
Government has agreed an external review of the gardaí in the wake of the fake alcohol tests and penalty points scandal but it “will not be fault finding”, it was agreed.
During a lengthy four-hour meeting of Cabinet yesterday — mostly consumed with the latest Garda fiasco — it was agreed that a “root and branch” review would be conducted.
This external review will be on top of two others of the force, including an internal one by gardaí themselves and a separate review by the Policing Authority of the points and alcohol testing scandal.
From 2006 to 2016, a total of 146,865 district court summonses were issued in error. 14,700 citizens were brought before the courts and wrongly convicted.
The minister came under fire in a Dáil debate last night, with calls for her to go and more questions about what she had done since details of the convictions and breath tests scandal reached her desk.
Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan said since first learning of wrongful convictions against motorists nine months ago, she had “done nothing” about them.
But the Tánaiste said she only became aware of the full scale of the scandal last week.
She said people wrongfully convicted would start receiving letters from next week.
“All fines will be reimbursed and penalties removed,” she said.
She also conceded that there may be “compensation”, a scenario which could cost the State tens of millions of euro.
The minister said the scandal was “completely unacceptable” and “all of the facts will emerge”.
She confirmed the first reports of the phantom alcohol breath tests were raised by a whistle-blower in 2014 with Government. But she said it would be wrong if the Dáil was responsible for removing a Garda commissioner and this was the power of the Policing Authority.
Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness described the scandal as a clear example of “corruption and mismanagement” within the gardaí.
He said the failure of the gardaí to inform the Tánaiste of the scandal amounted to a “cover-up”.
Wexford TD Mick Wallace also said the Garda commissioner would not last the year and that the public “are sick to the back teeth of hearing” about independent reviews.
Prof Denis Cusack of the Medical Bureau of Road Safety clearly said that in 2014 and August 2015, gardaí were alerted to the significant discrepancies between the amount of equipment used and the amount of breath tests recorded.
