Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Commissioner and his colleagues to the committee.

We have heard from him on the substantive issue of the striking out of fixed penalty notices. Would it be fair for me to summarise his position as follows? Of the notices issued, discretion was exercised in 2.57% of cases, a minimal number. Where there were difficulties, question marks or inconsistences in respect of those, he attributes them to poor record-keeping or confusion among those at the rank of superintendent in respect of the circumstances in which they had the authority to strike off these penalty points. He agrees with the report of his colleague, Assistant Commissioner John O’Mahoney, that there is no evidence at all of wrongdoing, much less criminality. Is this a fair summation on the issue of the striking out of these penalty points?