Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

All that is demanded is that any of us who have incurred penalty points are treated in the same way, regardless of whether one is a public figure or private citizen. The Minister indicated that the conclusions of the Comptroller and Auditor General are in line with the findings of the report by Assistant Commissioner O'Mahoney. That is clearly not the case, as is easily documented. I invite the Minister to get his officials to go through the records with a fine tooth comb to revise his view on that.

The Minister further stated that it is only fair to acknowledge that these reports and their findings and recommendations come in response to allegations by whistleblowers, as I would describe them. I am asking the Minister to go the extra mile and be generous here. Perhaps these individuals did not get everything absolutely right, but the vast substance of what they said has proved to be absolutely honest and true. Yet they have been victimised. The Minister must stand up and champion the right of people in vulnerable positions to come out for the public good. I am asking him to do so today and to apologise for the inaccurate comments he has made castigating these people.

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