Mr. Dónall Ó Cualáin:

I will start with the Deputy's last comment. We have already taken action in respect of the GRA's comments. We have asked Assistant Garda Commissioner O'Sullivan to seek any evidence, including names of people, so that we can establish an evidence trail, go to those people and get their versions of what is being put out there, that being, management was in some way putting pressure on front-line members.

The Deputy's opening comments were right - it is unacceptable. However, a distinction is to be drawn with the MAT checkpoints, which are in statute with the purpose of giving An Garda Síochána the means to play its part in reducing road deaths. I would be surprised if any manager in charge of a district or division did not ask and direct everyone under his or her control to engage fully with that process in terms of the enforcement of the Road Traffic Acts. That is the manager's duty.

Regarding the taking of breath samples where the falsification may have occurred, however, there is no evidence to suggest that anyone at management level asked people to falsify records. Of course managers would have put pressure on their people to ensure that they maintained acceptable levels of enforcement across our lifesaver offences, which include drunk driving.

Assistant Garda Commissioner O'Sullivan has gone back out and addressed the issue raised by the GRA. If the committee wishes, he can speak in more detail about his findings in that regard and whether there was pressure from management to falsify records, which is a different contention from the one that managers were just doing their duty and ensuring that the laws of the land were being enforced by the people who had been given the job to do so.

We play a significant part in the enforcement aspect of the three Es, which include enforcement and education. We play a significant part in the education process as well. The final E is engineering, in which we also have a part, in that we meet local authorities on a regular basis to ensure that, where we see blackspots emerging, we can let them know about the number of accidents happening there. With all of that combined, there was a consistent reduction in the number of road deaths during the period covered by the report, that being, from 2006 onwards. Assistant Garda Commissioner Finn can give the committee the relevant details. It shows that all of the components together were having the right impact, namely, reducing the number of fatalities on our roads. As a backdrop to that, however, and where there is supporting evidence of wrongdoing by any member at any rank, I fully accept that people have to be held accountable.