Inquiry on 'quashed' points sought

Four TDs have called for an independent inquiry into allegations that more than 66,000 fixed charge notices for traffic offences were quashed by senior gardaí in the last four years.

Independent deputies Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, Joan Collins and Luke "Ming" Flanagan said there had been attempts to gag the two Garda whistleblowers who supplied them with a dossier of the names and details of those who had their offences quashed.

The TDs had initially intended making the full dossier available to the media for examination, but following a warning from the office of the Data Protection Commissioner this morning, had decided not to do so. They did give details of 20 cases in which points had been cancelled, including six cases involving the same superintendent.

According to the dossier, he had “terminated” two speeding tickets for the wives of two members of staff, for an ex-Garda superintendent and for individuals who had also had previous tickets quashed. This superintendent’s wife also had her speeding ticket terminated by a Garda inspector and he had his own speeding ticket quashed by a different superintendent on the grounds he was “on official duty”.

Other examples given included motorists who had speeding tickets quashed and were later killed in road crashes or killed pedestrians, passengers or other motorists.

In one case, a motorist was detecting driving at 155km/h in a 100km/h zone. Three months later, he was involved in a collision in which another motorist was killed.

The TDs claimed thousands of tickets were terminated for gardaí and their families, and that Pulse, the computer system which logs offences, was “falsified” with reasons given for cancellation such as “confusion over signage”, “bringing elderly person to hospital” and “genuine excuse”.

Other reasons given for cancellation included “offender genuinely mistook the limits”, “philanthropic benevolence”, "meeting garda” and “received call that his house had been burgled”.

The dossier claimed almost 37,000 speeding tickets had been quashed in the past four years, including 3,270 for using a mobile phone while driving, 1,200 for careless driving, 1,871 for not not using seat belts, and 943 for breaking red lights. A further 22,000 tickets issued for tax and insurance reasons were also quashed.

The last line of the dossier stated: “49,000 more examples if requested”.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter had earlier warned the four politicians to cancel plans to expose the dossier of evidence.

Mr Shatter, who stated last week that there are 197 cases of fixed notices having been struck out, accused the TDs of being judge, jury and executioner.

“This ill-considered press conference should be cancelled,” he said. “The deputies should resist the temptation to present themselves collectively as the accusers, investigators, judge, jury and hangmen, and recognise their responsibility as legislators to respect the constitutional and human rights of others.”

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan has appointed an Assistant Commissioner, John O’Mahoney, to examine accusations that 50,000 notices were struck out, including those incurred by high-profile figures.

“They [the four TDs] should understand that, at the very least, those against whom allegations have been made are entitled to the same due process that is afforded to Deputy Wallace in his dealings with the Revenue, the courts and his creditors," Mr Shatter said.

Independent TD Mr Wallace was named as a tax defaulter after being found to have a €1.4 million VAT bill.

Mr Shatter claimed that the scandal concerns only a small minority of the alleged 50,000. He said documentation being examined by the commissioner’s office contained 402 allegations, a number of duplications, and an actual total of 197.

Mr Shatter accused the four TDs of pre-empting the internal Garda inquiry and of violating the privacy of private citizens. He said they were ignoring his statement last week that penalty points can be cancelled in legitimate circumstances. Mr Shatter said he is committed to asking the Garda Inspectorate to investigate the matter if impropriety is identified.

“Mick Wallace TD, the leader of this morning’s Buswells Four, should be awarded Santa’s Brass Neck Award 2012,” Mr Shatter said.

“In pursuit of personal publicity, ignoring due process and in a gross abuse of their positions, Deputies Wallace, Daly, Collins and ‘Ming’ Flanagan are proposing to out and publicly shame and defame individuals for alleged illegality who may have done no wrong.

“The moral outrage to be voiced from their Buswells soapbox is blind to the enormous credibility gap posed by Deputy Wallace leading the charge as a crusader for financial propriety and pillorying others and by all four in their much-trumpeted flouting of the law by refusing to pay the household charge and encouraging others to similarly break the law.”

Mr Shatter said the investigation has shown one case where a parent was taking a sick child to hospital and was hit with a fixed penalty which was subsequently cancelled.

Other cases identified in the review include an individual who was given a penalty for speeding when the registration number had been wrongly recorded and some instances where people engaged with ambulance services were given notices for speeding.

Additional reporting: PA