Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

When we came in here this evening, we were told there was to be a review. During the debate, the Tánaiste told us that it would be a Patten-like commission, which is fundamentally different. The Tánaiste needs to clarify exactly what is proposed because if we are looking at a Patten-like commission, she is then questioning the changes she made and is certainly not expressing confidence in An Garda Síochána because that is a fundamental change and that is what she announced this evening. The Tánaiste told us this evening that there was a minimum inflation rate of 65%. These phantom breath tests were supposedly carried out and supervised and they were recorded. I spoke to a former garda who knows about these things. He told me that these tests are supposed to be supervised by an inspector or superintendent. That often did not happen. Anyone who highlighted an issue of deficiency in the system was totally vilified. The management was aware it was extremely poorly managed. Some quiet roads were expected to produce the same number of fines as busy roads. There was always the magic number of three per checkpoint - three seat belt offences, three tax or NCT offences or three failed breath tests. All one needs to do is talk to somebody who was involved in this. I was told the collection of fines was assigned to specific warrant officers. This proved to be inefficient and collection was not really prioritised. At times, cheques and money orders were collected and not processed. They were left in drawers in Garda stations. A huge number of fines were cancelled in courts because the fines were there and there was inefficiency. How does the Garda Commissioner not know that this is happening if it is known at management level that there are difficulties with this system? I do not buy people being aware of tittle-tattle about Deputy Wallace's phone but not knowing about something as significant as this. I think this was a wholesale and systematic system of inflation throughout the force. Could the Tánaiste tell us whether it will be a Patten-like commission?

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