Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Chair is suggesting likewise. That is not all, however. In December 2011 I attended a meeting in the Roscommon County Council building. When I was approaching the roundabout coming up to the building, I was stopped by the Garda and informed that I would be receiving a fixed penalty points notice because I was on my mobile phone again. I said "Okay" and headed into the meeting. At the meeting I casually mentioned that I had been foolishly using my mobile phone while driving and would be getting two penalty points. The meeting proceeded and afterwards I drove home. When I spotted my phone ringing approximately ten minutes into my journey - I learn a lesson eventually - I pulled in to answer it. A senior county council official was on the phone. He informed me that he had sorted out my penalty points issue for me. To this day, I have not received penalty points or a fine.

Whatever about the case in which the penalty points were removed on the grounds that I was travelling to the Dáil, there is no case for what happened in this situation. Not only is a cohort of gardaí going around asking people if they want penalty points cancelled, but it also appears that there is a franchise system, whereby a person who is cosy with a senior garda can have people's offences quashed. As I have suggested, the Bill before the House has been put together by people who come from areas where crime is very low. If they ever commit an offence, they will never have to face charges. The Garda Commissioner and the Minister might not believe this is true.

When the Garda Commissioner announced the penalty points fraud investigation, he said, "There is no question of what has been described as a culture of non-enforcement of penalties being tolerated by An Garda Síochána." How can my experience be explained in that context? I did not ask the Garda sergeant in question to get involved, but he insisted that he should. I do not believe it was an attempt to trip me up. I believe it is a culture which has festered for years. All the garda was doing was what he had learned along the way. Leaving that case aside, it is quite extraordinary to think a senior county council official would feel confident that approaching a senior garda would enable him to have penalty points quashed for a citizen.

Many people will ask why I did not release this information before the press released some of it. I had understood it was illegal for gardaí to release such confidential information. Strictly speaking, I was the only one who could release such information. I had intended to do so on publication of the internal review by the Minister. That was not my original idea, but I eventually worked out that this was where it would have the most impact. My intention was to be able to show clearly on the day of the launch of the review that there was systematic abuse, something I believe the report will attempt to whitewash.

Last week I attended a court case in Loughrea to support my fellow turf cutters. Several people were in court that day on penalty points offences. We have been told by the Minister that people who have had their penalty points revoked had them revoked for good reasons. Many people in Loughrea courthouse put up a far stronger case than my own in support of the revocation of their penalty points, but they were ignored. Some of them were given four penalty points. I had a similar experience when I appealed penalty points in Roscommon courthouse some years ago. I had a good and legitimate reason for my appeal - a priest was visiting my father-in-law in hospital because he was on his death bed - but instead I was given four penalty points.

The Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 does not do what it says on the tin. We are discussing it at a time when supposedly important people like me - I am one of them now - do not even have to go to the court in the first place. If the justice system is to work, it must be seen to be above favour. Our system is not. Corruption is like rust. It starts out small and cannot be seen, but if it is not kept in check, it corrodes everything. That is what is happening in the Garda Síochána. It started out as something small and has reached the point where people feel confident that they can cover up the murder of a priest who was such a good man that he had been named Roscommon person of the year.

I have contacted the fines office in County Clare to ask how I can go about having the punishment that should have been imposed on me in the first place - my fine and my penalty points - restored. I am calling on the 15 Members of the Oireachtas who have been referred to in media reports to tell us whether they were approached by the Garda or if they proactively went about having their penalty points removed. If that happens, perhaps we will be able to talk about the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012, for a start, with a little credibility. However, we will not be able to do so as long as the system in place in this country ensures the important people never have to go before the courts in the first place.

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