Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality mentioned in her statement that she became aware of discrepancies in the fixed charge notice system in June 2016, when the matter was brought to her attention by An Garda Síochána. We know that An Garda Síochána conducted a review and that this review established there were 14,700 wrongful convictions. Last Thursday, An Garda Síochána issued a press statement in which it referred to this review it carried out and the 14,700 wrongful convictions recorded. It claimed in its statement that, based on the findings and inquiries of that review, a number of solutions were identified by Garda IT to avoid, as far as possible, a recurrence of the issues highlighted. It stated that, as of 15 July 2016, an IT solution had been designed and rolled out. I take it from that statement of An Garda Síochána that the force was aware, by 15 July 2016 at the latest, that there were 14,700 wrongful convictions. The Tánaiste said in her statement that she became aware of the scale of the number of convictions only recently. When did she first become aware of there being any issue in respect of wrongful convictions on this issue?

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