Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 4 October 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality
Recent Issues Relating to An Garda Síochána: Acting Garda Commissioner Dónall Ó Cualáin
9:00 am
Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source
I thank the witnesses for coming in. I would like to start with a question for the Assistant Commissioner Mr. Michael O'Sullivan. My question relates to the breath test report. Will Mr. O'Sullivan explain why some submissions from the AGSI and a rank and file garda were dismissed? In that context, I wish to quote directly from the report, as follows:
It was believed that managers used increased enforcement levels at a time of reducing resources to improve their promotion profile. To satisfy Garda management demands and avoid conflict members reported they felt pressured to inflate numbers.
On page 63 of the report we find the following:
This Garda member also disclosed that there was competition amongst various Garda members that led to generous estimating of the breath tests conducted at checkpoints.
These quotes seem to be at odds with the conclusion in the executive summary on page 4, which reads:
The examination team found no evidence of any tangible benefit which would have acted as a catalyst to encourage Garda members to inflate breath test figures. There was no career advancement or other obvious rewards to be gained from engaging in this practice.
I ask Mr. O'Sullivan to explain why the submissions were dismissed.
No comments