Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan:

I will make some general points. Deputy Commissioner, John Twomey, was there for the initial part of the audit and it has continued. I do not have the logistical breakdown of the individuals but we are happy to provide it. The Deputy makes a very interesting point about the old culture of the Garda Síochána of waiting until we get to the heart of the answers. That is the way we do things. We have been brought up as policemen and women and we like to establish the facts before we come out publicly. Part of the commitment to openness and transparency which we committed to in our modernisation and renewal programme, and that we committed to and I committed to as part of the Government reform programme, was exactly what we saw happen in this case. We do not have all the answers. The assistant commissioner has outlined how it was of such significant proportions that we made a decision and the assistant commissioner raised this with the public. In June 2016, when we became aware that there was an issue with the fixed charge notices, we put a notice on our website to tell people. On the breath tests, we put a qualifier on the website to say that this data is subject to review.

For the record, as the committee knows, the Policing Authority was constituted on 1 January 2016. The authority was not there in November 2015. I will ask the deputy commissioner to deal with the informal briefings that were given to the authority. It is a matter of regret that when the Policing Authority was constituted, it was not informed of this fact. We have apologised for that and have said that it was an oversight.