Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wonder if the Minister will commit himself to incorporating the 12 recommendations of the GPSU report, or will he stick to the seven weaker versions that he came up with himself at the time the report came out? As the Minister will be aware, the Garda Professional Standards Unit was very critical of the process.

I would like to ask the Minister about some of the issues they raised. Has the fixed charge manual, which we were told would be in place and distributed to all gardaí within three months, been put in place? Another issue was the inclusion of humanitarian grounds as a grounds for cancellation. Despite the fact that this was being used wholesale it was not provided for in the 2005 guidelines. According to the Garda Professional Standards Unit, new guidelines for use by gardaí will include the humanitarian grounds aspect.

It was recommended by the GPSU that district officers be stripped of their ability to cancel fixed charge notices on PULSE. Does the Minister believe this is a good idea and, also, that it is important the system is centralised to ensure only people in the central authority in Thurles can cancel fixed charge notices? The GPSU also recommended that district officers be only allowed to consider the cancellation of notices in respect of offences which occurred in their geographical area. These are important issues that must be addressed if we are to strengthen the process.

See this speech in context