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

I want to put on the record that the behaviour of the Deputies is outrageous. There is a pretence at wanting a public inquiry, but in fact what the Deputies want is a hanging. They want to make allegations, to prosecute them and to assume everyone is guilty. Why? Because they are the recipients of allegations.

All of the issues raised by the three Deputies relate to the same topic which was discussed earlier this afternoon on Question Time. I am conscious of this issue and of its importance. There is little I can say on the matter that has not already been covered. However, in the context of an issue raised by Deputy Wallace, it is true and correct that these matters came to my Department in September and it is true and correct that I did not have sight of them until early October. The reason for that is, as the Deputy may have noted, that I was unwell for a two-week period and was not in a position to deal with matters for those two weeks. I presume that is not an issue about which the Deputy cares greatly.

The allegations referred to by the Deputies are not that some people have had penalty points written off, but that in a number of cases members of the Garda Síochána have inappropriately cancelled fixed-charge notices, mainly for speeding. Of course, if they were cancelled, the result would be that penalty points were not applied. The allegations appear to be made on the basis of records of cancellation on the Garda PULSE system. The Deputies seem to be of the view that the Garda PULSE system should be accessible by anyone and that all information from it should be distributed, not just to Members of this House, but to members of the media. Clearly, that has happened in this case and that is a gross violation of confidentiality in the context of the workings of the system.

Fixed-charge notices are an alternative to prosecution and give a motorist the opportunity to acknowledge the offence, pay the fixed charge and, where the offence is a penalty point offence, incur the appropriate penalty points. If the motorist does not pay the fixed charge, he or she will in the normal course be prosecuted. With regard to the cancellation of fixed-charge notices, it appears from media reports of recent days and comments made in the House that there is an assumption that any termination of a fixed-charge notice is illegal and that any individual who is the recipient of such notice which is subsequently cancelled is being afforded special treatment. Apparently, the view is that any individual who has such notice cancelled should be named and shamed in this House, which is a total disgrace. The assumptions made by the Deputies are incorrect. I am concerned that the outcome of the investigation being conducted into the allegations is being unfairly prejudiced and I urge caution.

It seems not only that the Deputies want to impugn the entirety of the Garda Síochána, but also that they now have the Garda Commissioner in their aim.

I emphasise that the allegations that are the subject of this Topical Issue came to the notice of my Department in September and to my personal notice in early October. As far as I know and have been advised, the allegations were not brought to the notice of the Garda Commissioner until we wrote to him. The same individual may have been making complaints about other matters to the confidential recipient. As far as I know, they were not these matters.

Following the introduction of fixed charges, the Garda established a policy and procedures on the termination or cancellation of fixed-charge notices. They were set out in 2005 in the third edition of the full user manual on policies and procedures in the fixed-charge processing system. In essence, the policy and procedures give district officers, inspector acting district officers and the inspector in the fixed-charge processing office the authority to cancel fixed-charge notices, in line with the policy and procedures framed around legislative exemptions contained in road traffic legislation and regulations and in conjunction with the specific guidelines issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Specific procedures are in place for the cancellation of these notices.

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