Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The individual who has made complaints in this area has made a calculation of the alleged total number of fixed-charge notices cancelled. The calculation, as furnished in the allegation I saw, gave rise to an assumption that every single cancellation was inappropriate and due to some inside influence. Let me make it very clear that on my watch as Minister for Justice and Equality I will not accept the preferential treatment of any individual. I want every individual to be treated fairly under the law and to have his good name protected in circumstances in which there is no wrongdoing. As I said to the Deputy, there is an assumption that if a fixed-charge notice is cancelled, there has been wrongdoing. This is not the case. There are strict guidelines, to which I made reference in my reply. It is important that the guidelines be adhered to. In that context, it is important that the investigation that is under way be comprehensive and completed fully, and that the full story, rather than a story based on an assumption, become known. It should not be assumed once a fixed-charge notice is cancelled that there has been some wrongdoing, because that is not the case. If it turns out that there has been wrongdoing, so be it. There should be transparency in this regard and I have no difficulty with it; I am merely asking Deputies to be cautious in what they say until we see the outcome of the investigation. I expect to have the outcome early in the new year. We all have information with some individuals named therein. I ask Deputies to desist from naming individuals or attempting to name them in this House or outside it on the assumption that the individuals have been guilty of some wrongdoing. If one has truly been given names of individuals, one will know that some of the fixed charges that have been cancelled relate to individuals who are not celebrities or others known to the media. They are probably not known to the people who received the information. Some are individuals who wrote genuinely to the Garda authorities having received a fixed-charge ticket. They may have explained their circumstances or raised an objection which, having been examined by the Garda authorities, was regarded as valid.

There should be transparency. The public must be reassured that the fixed-charge notice system applies without fear or favour to everybody in the State, regardless of who he is, the position he holds, the job he does or whether he is known. Should it appear that there are procedural arrangements that need to be tightened up or that a different approach needs to be taken, I assure the House that I will communicate my view thereon to the Garda Commissioner. In the meantime, the Garda Commissioner must be allowed to facilitate the assistant commissioner who is investigating these matters to complete the investigation.

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