Mr. Michael O'Sullivan:

The rationale is included in the executive summary; while the outcome was undesirable the focus of management appears to have been the persistent detection of intoxicated drivers and the saving of lives. There is no doubt in my mind that this was the focus of all the Garda divisions. The focus was on the enforcement of drink-driving legislation and saving lives. We know that this was achieved in many divisions across the country at the time.

I will wait for the Policing Authority independent report to come out, but there was a sense that if ten checkpoints were scheduled, five might be done. If 20 were scheduled then there was a good chance that ten might be done. I do not agree with this. I believe we would have been far better off organising two checkpoints to be done and ensuring that the two were done. It was a perception, certainly from the Garda members to whom I spoke and the GRA representatives, that they felt by having so many checkpoints scheduled, gardaí felt under pressure to achieve the checkpoints and ensure they were done. At this point I have no evidence of it but in some instances it may have resulted in numbers being entered on PULSE for breath tests that were not completed. At all times, in everything I found, the genuine aim was to ensure that MAT checkpoints, which are legislated for, were scheduled - as the acting Garda Commissioner has said - to detect drink-driving and save lives on the roads.