Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will follow up on Mr. Ó Cualáin's answer. There is a problem with it. He stated that management in the Garda, particularly at divisional level, was applying pressure to ensure that enforcement took place in the form of conducting the tests to deal with the scourge of drink driving. One of two problems stems from that. Either management accepted reports from subordinates that were blatantly false and had such a poor management structure in place that it could not pick up on just how false those reports were, or it turned a blind eye to how false they were or everyone was in agreement. I acknowledge Mr. Ó Cualáin's point that the figures were decreasing, but it is not credible that a senior management that knew what it was doing within a proper management structure - I keep referring to it as "management" rather than "Garda officers" or whatever - could believe that this level of activity was taking place when there could not have been enough hours in the day, cars on the road at certain places or drivers to stop.

It took months for this situation to come out, and then the Garda investigated and reverted to us. Members of the Oireachtas and members of the public are being asked to believe one of two things. Either management was so inept that it could not work within its own structures to figure out what was happening or gardaí actively colluded together to do it. Either scenario is an awful outcome. It is difficult to believe that rank and file gardaí continued doing this for so long and it was not picked up on without there being some type of a nod-and-a-wink culture or one that turned a blind eye. Is Mr. Ó Cualáin saying that did not happen?