Mr. Brian Purcell:

No, I do not think it is accurate to say that and I said that earlier. I have outlined the extensive action that was taken by the former Minister in regard to the penalty points, including referral to the Garda Síochána and the establishment of the investigation that became known as the O'Mahoney investigation. In addition to the Sergeant McCabe allegations being investigated by the O'Mahoney investigation, the Minister also asked the Garda Síochána to investigate a random 1% of all cancellations, other than the ones that were covered by the allegations and that was done. The matter was also looked at by the Garda professional standards unit which made recommendations. The Minister then referred both reports to the independent Garda Síochána Inspectorate, which in turn produced a report which, as I said earlier, nailed once and for all anyone's doubts about whether it was independent. It produced a very hard-hitting report about the actual operation of the fixed charge notice processing system. On top of that, the Minister referred the O'Mahoney report and the professional standards unit report to this very committee, as Deputy McNamara knows.

In turn - and if I am correct - that was then sent to the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions.

On top of all that, the Minister subsequently referred the penalty points allegations and all the other reports to GSOC for examination. That examination is ongoing. In the context of any statement to the effect that the allegations being made were not taken seriously, if one looks at the course of action which was taken and which I have described, I do not think anyone could reasonably say that these things were not taken seriously.