Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Mr. Twomey and his colleagues and I thank him for the presentation which is very helpful. The background to the meeting from the point of view of the committee is based on comments made by a judge at Kilrush District Court and the concerns he raised. I refer to his comments addressed to the local Garda superintendent who prosecutes those cases:

You have been put in an unenviable position of trying to prosecute cases where matters have been so badly and so appallingly put together by [a named inspector] and his team....The sooner this is highlighted, the better....The complete waste of public money by these people who come into court who don't know or don't happen to be told how to prosecute simple road traffic matters.

Mr. Twomey, the Assistant Commissioner, has set out the process and procedure. Has he had an opportunity to investigate that particular case? If so, I ask if he might share with us what he believes went wrong and how he might propose to have it fixed.
With regard to the broader contract with GoSafe, Mr. Twomey stated that GoSafe has fulfilled its contractual obligations based on the audit. In light of issues which have arisen, is there a necessity to revisit that contract and the training of personnel?
Mr. Twomey described in detail the process for preparing and presenting evidence in court. In his view, would a change in legislation, which is our role, be preferable, rather than dragging him in here to explain the process? Is there a role for us as legislators to bring forward amending legislation to make that process more streamlined and make it easier to prosecute while also protecting the citizen?
I refer to other references made by Judge Durcan about comments by Gay Byrne whose view was that the courts do not deal with this in an appropriate manner. I have asked the question but I suspect Mr. Twomey will not comment. I will not press the matter.