Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This was a report that was sought, as I understand it, in 2007 on the fixed charge processing system. GSOC conducted a substantial examination of the system and produced its report in 2009. I genuinely do not know why it was not published and I am not going to attribute any motive for its not being published. It is a very detailed report which seems to have been sent to the former Minister, Dermot Ahern, on 30 April 2009, accompanied by a letter from the commissioners Mr. Conor Brady and Ms Carmel Foley of GSOC. The report contains a series of recommendations for effecting various reforms and changes. Some of the recommendations mirror those contained in the report of the Garda Inspectorate. However, the Garda Inspectorate's report also makes a lot of additional and different recommendations. It is my intention to publish the report on the Department of Justice and Equality website.

The letter sent to the former Minister, Dermot Ahern, gives an indication of how the investigation originated. It references that on 20 December 2007, following consideration of a recommendation from GSOC, as provided for under section 106(2) of the Garda Síochána Act, Mr. Ahern's predecessor, the late Deputy Brian Lenihan, requested GSOC to undertake an examination of practice, policy and procedure in regard to the fixed charge processing system as operated by the Garda Síochána. The letter goes on to say that the examination report has now been completed and that the report, with recommendations, "is presented herewith". The letter points out that the commission would have hoped that this exercise could have been completed by an earlier date but that due to an initial backlog of complaints and an onerous caseload, priority in resourcing allocation had to be accorded to operational matters. The presentation of the report was also somewhat delayed by the untimely death of the late chairman of the commission, Mr. Justice Kevin Haugh, who had a particular commitment to and interest in this project. The letter is quite lengthy so I will paraphrase-----

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