Mr. John Twomey:

There are two issues at play here. There is one with regard to the fixed charge notices and one with regard to the breath tests. With regard to the fixed charge notices, the Policing Authority was given a full briefing from June 2016 all the way up. On a monthly basis, it was made aware of it. I want to be clear on this point. With regard to the excesses in fixed charge notices, it was given all of the information we had. It is only since 10 March this year, following further consultation with other agencies involved, that we have been able to narrow down the numbers. As soon as we had the numbers, they were given to the Policing Authority in advance of the press conference. With regard to the fixed charge notices, it was briefed on it from June last year. That is clear.

With regard to the breath tests what happened was letters were issued, including a letter issued to the Department, and a note was put on the website. This was the context. The issue with regard to the original numbers came to notice in November 2015, and that was in advance of the establishment of the Policing Authority. I have spoken on a number of occasions to the Policing Authority and we have outlined the position on what happened. We had written externally. We had put a note on our website on the fixed charge notice. We informed the Policing Authority and briefed it. We meet every month and we answer all the questions on this. All along the way every effort has been made, and as late as last night further correspondence was provided to the Policing Authority to keep it up to date.