Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to be clear about a number of the points the Deputy has raised. When I said that no issues stemmed from this audit with regard to the performance of mandatory alcohol testing, MAT, checkpoints or prosecutions emanating from same, and this was contained in the letter of June 2016, I am talking about the breath tests because obviously a different issue emerged in regard to that. Where breath tests were taken and somebody was found to be over the limit, those prosecutions are safe and have gone ahead and nothing arises in regard to that. That is what I am referring to there. In the same letter that I got in June 2016, it was indicated that there had been an audit in the southern region and because of the some of the discrepancies that emerged there, the Garda had commenced a national audit. I was clearly aware at that point, because of the information the Garda had about one area, that they were concerned enough to do a national audit and to change procedures at that point. It is subsequent to all of that, as Assistant Commissioner Finn outlined to me at the ministerial meeting yesterday, that they had to go back to all 108 districts and gather all this material, which has been gathered by paper, so to speak. There was no national system of collecting this material and that is the reason it took the time it did to gather the information, but they did express concern about it and they were working on it.

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