Mr. Brian Purcell:

I also covered this point earlier. The initial letter contained a reference to some records being attached but there were no records attached. That was one of the issues queried. The records which it was stated in the letter were being submitted were never sent in despite requests for them. I said earlier that there was an overlap between the material submitted at that stage via the solicitor with some of the other allegations and there was also an overlap between the material submitted and material that had been investigated by, I think, the assistant commissioner or, perhaps, deputy commissioner in the context of the internal Garda investigation to which I referred at length when the Deputy was not here. In that context, all of this was going on during the period concerned. I also explained earlier that none of this happened in isolation. At the same time, there was an extensive process in place in regard to what has become known as the penalty points issue, which involved numerous reports and referrals to the Garda professional standard unit, this committee, the petitions committee, the Garda Síochána Inspectorate and, ultimately, GSOC. There was ongoing engagement on that front.

The issues relating to Sergeant McCabe all occurred at a parallel time to the issue with the penalty points. I made that point earlier just to emphasise that it was not the case that nothing was happening with regard to Sergeant McCabe during that period.