Policing Authority turns down Commissioner's request for Garda Inspectorate inquiry

The Policing Authority delivered a blow to Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan yesterday by turning down her request for the Garda Inspectorate to examine the breath test scandal.

Policing Authority turns down Commissioner's request for Garda Inspectorate inquiry

The authority said it took this decision because it had not received “data requested” by it from the Garda Síochána and that an inspectorate investigation was “premature”.

The authority sought the information it wanted — including all audit reports — “by the end of this week”.

In a statement, it expressed its “disappointment” at not being advised in a “timely manner” that an audit into the breath test issues was underway.

Gardaí finished an initial audit of breath tests in the Southern Region by November 2015 and ordered a national audit on 2 June 2016.

Six days later, a report was submitted to the Department of Justice on the two audits. The Road Safety Authority was also informed.

Deputy Commissioner John Twomey said on Monday that the failure to notify the Policing Authority was an “administrative” oversight on his part.

The full national audit was completed in March 2017, when the gardaí informed and briefed the Policing Authority.

Following a meeting yesterday, the Policing Authority said: “Despite questioning over several months, the Authority has not yet been provided with the full internal reports or indeed a clear sense of how these matters have been handled to date with the Garda Síochána or the status and content of the audits which have been undertaken.”

It said it had considered correspondence received from the Garda Commissioner last Friday in which she requested that the authority refer a number of matters to the Garda Inspectorate.

The statement said the authority conveyed the result of its deliberations to the commissioner yesterday.

“It [the Policing Authority] concluded that, in the absence of the data requested, it is premature to decide at this time whether there is value in asking the Garda Inspectorate to conduct the type of inspection requested,” the statement said.

“It requested that, by the end of this week, further information be provided by the Garda Síochána on a range of matters to facilitate the Authority’s further consideration of this matter.

“This includes a copy of all existing reports, including audits or examinations on both matters.”

In order to assist in identifying gaps and “because they were not entirely clear” the authority also asked for details from the Commissioner of the internal examination and internal audit and the timeliness of their completion.

The Policing Authority stressed that that supply of this information in a timely manner was “emphasised” to the commissioner.

In addition, the authority said that, as a first step, it had decided to “engage expertise” to assist it in conducting “a quality assurance review” of the remedial actions taken by gardaí in 2016 to help restore confidence in Garda data.

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