Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach should be aware that approximately six weeks ago St. Michael's House, a vital service for those with intellectual disabilities, was faced with the body blow of a further €1 million of cuts on top of the €12 million that it has already endured. This organisation, which has 330 persons on its waiting list, now must grapple with serious cuts with which, the Minister told us last week, it is dealing creatively and co-operatively - whatever that means.

Coincidentally, that €1 million, which has caused such heartbreak, is slightly less than the €1.12 million that the Comptroller and Auditor General identified the State has lost through not having a proper system of fixed charge notices in relation to company cars. This was merely one of a number of measures, which he identified and which he called "significant weaknesses" in the operation of the fixed charge notice system, which resulted in a substantial proportion of drivers avoiding penalties, a situation which he stated needs to be addressed "urgently". Of course, the problem here is that it is not the first time the Comptroller and Auditor General said this. He said it in 2000, 2003 and 2004, and now he is saying it again. The question really is why should we believe that anything different will happen now when it did not happen previously. Against the backdrop of austerity, revenue foregone is important. Based on the Comptroller and Auditor General's figures, if the motorists had paid, even at the minimum amount, it would have resulted in an extra €3.5 million which could have been used by St. Michael's House or others.

However, the issue here is much greater than revenue foregone. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report confirmed that there are widespread terminations of penalty points which, he stated, were in circumstances that do not satisfy the stated policy. He confirmed the incidence of multiple terminations to the same person and the same vehicle. He confirmed that there was no paperwork. He confirmed that substantial amounts happened outside Garda districts. To all of the problems identified by him, the response was that they have a new circular in place. Let us be clear.

The only reason for the new practices in place now is that two courageous whistleblowing gardaí came forward and gave their evidence which led to internal and external Garda reports and led to the Comptroller and Auditor General investigating the matter. Throughout that time, the Garda establishment sought to minimise the situation and to cover up. The Commissioner said there was no such culture; the Assistant Garda Commissioner, who had five months, five chief superintendents, six superintendents, all their staff and seven others, failed to find the 3,000 summonses that were statute-barred which the Comptroller and Auditor General found. He did not discover that half the summonses issued were never served. Last week, the Minister attempted to downgrade the whistleblower. Does the Taoiseach accept that the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2010 prohibits the penalisation of whistleblowers? Is he aware that one of the whistleblowers has been driven out of his job and the other has been prevented from accessing PULSE and doing his job? What will the Taoiseach do about it, considering that they have been vindicated by the Comptroller and Auditor General?

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