Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has recorded that she received a letter from the Department on 14 March 2017 which indicated that the total number of individual cases involved was 1,781 in which persons had been convicted in situations where they had been incorrectly summonsed to court, either without having been issued with a fixed charge notice or having been issued with one and paid the fine. She said the letter contained information that the Director of Public Prosecutions had indicated that a review should be extended to include cases before 2014. This letter was issued to the Minister in 2017, but the Garda had become aware that this was a wider issue a full year before that. Within ten days of issuing the Minister the letter setting out the 1,781 figure, the Garda provided figures of 14,700 at a press conference. There is still a serious question over the attitude within An Garda Síochána on the false prosecution of citizens of the State and the efforts it has made to identify each and every individual in the first place. The Garda had to be directed or asked by the Director of Public Prosecutions to do so. The fact is that it took it a long time to identify the individuals involved.

I am conscious of what the Chairman said and have a list of questions relating to------