Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The 71% of citizens who paid their fine and took their penalty points on the chin must be appalled to discover that up to one in five of those facing the same sanction managed to get away with it. It is clear, given the massive scale of such practices, that they arose largely due to maladministration. However, there are cases which give cause for serious concern. We have had allegations, for instance, that judges, serving gardaí, State solicitors and others have had points written off repeatedly. We were recently informed that several senior journalists - who are supposed to be working to hold gardaí to account - have had the same write-off. It has been further alleged that one journalist, Ms Gemma O'Doherty, lost her job because of the investigative work she was doing in this area.

Will the Minister undertake to investigate why at least two senior journalists at the publication mentioned in the Guardian and the Irish Post had penalty points written off? Such an investigation is necessary to ascertain whether those write-offs arose from genuine circumstances, as they may well have done. The public has a right to know in either case. We must have the answers in the interests of democracy and if public confidence in the system is to be restored. As I said, the larger problem was clearly one of major maladministration, but there are also cases where very powerful and connected people apparently had their points written off simply because of who they knew. That is totally wrong and the Minister must investigate the extent and circumstances of that alleged practice.

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