John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This issue is now in the public domain. In the correspondence, one of the whistleblowers writing to us today states: "I discovered over 200 senior Garda officers terminating fixed charge notices inappropriately and, in most cases, corruptly." This is going to appear as part of the documentation submitted to members of the committee. I would have thought the reaction to something like that would be for the Commissioner or his senior officers to call them in and ask how they discovered this information, although we know how they discovered it, and investigate whether the information stands up in any way. The information is causing damage to the force but I have to rely on the fact that the two individuals have 30 years experience. The individual who described himself as a serving sergeant states: "Having been treated the way I was for reporting the above [which is all of what we spoke about earlier in the meeting] I don't think I would do it again. It destroyed me, my career and my family." Given the years of service and the structure of the force, is it not time for one of the bosses to speak to these individuals?