Mr. Brian Purcell:

As I said earlier, there were ongoing discussions with the Minister on these matters. It is probably important to remember, and I am sure the committee will recall, that while the allegations had been made there was a substantial overlap in terms of time with a significant number of allegations that were made by Sergeant McCabe about the fixed-charge notice processing system, or the penalty points issue, as it is referred to by some commentators. Occurring in parallel was the penalty points issue, in respect of which complaints were made and referred to the Garda. An investigation was set up by the Garda Commissioner and led by Assistant Commissioner O'Mahoney, who in turn produced what has become known as the O'Mahoney report into the penalty point allegations. In addition, another report was sought. The Garda Commissioner referred the report to the Garda Síochána professional standards unit to examine it in conjunction with the O'Mahoney report. It made a number of recommendations. The Minister, in addition to asking the Garda Commissioner to investigate the allegations made by Sergeant McCabe in order that he could be satisfied further that a proper and full investigation had been carried out, asked him to examine a random 1% of all cancellations. That was done by Assistant Commissioner O'Mahoney. Following on from that, the Minister referred the O'Mahoney report, the Garda Síochána professional standards unit report and all the relevant documentation to the Garda Síochána Inspectorate so it could examine them to determine whether there was a need for further recommendations. Subsequently, or around the same time, if I am not mistaken, the Minister referred the O'Mahoney report and the professional standards unit's report to this committee, which in turn sent it to the petitions committee, which held various hearings. These developments were occurring at the same time as the others. The report from the inspectorate was produced-----