Nóirín O’Sullivan faces further pressure over fake Garda breath tests

Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan will come under further pressure on Tuesday to give at least a broad indication of how a million breath tests recorded by the force never happened after Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman, Jim O’Callaghan, said on Monday night he was still not in a position to express confidence in her.

Fine Gael Ministers on Monday night expressed support for Ms O'Sullivan after a number of public appearances on Monday in which she attempted to address the latest scandal to affect the force.

She did not give an indication of how or why the recording of almost one million breath tests that never happened took place. Ms O’Sullivan said an internal Garda investigation would attempt to ascertain the facts of the matter.

The Cabinet is expected to discuss the issue on Tuesday, but Mr O’Callaghan said on Monday night he was still not in a position to express confidence in the commissioner.

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Confidence vote

The Independent Alliance is due to meet after the Cabinet to discuss the commissioner’s position and a source said there was a “50-50”chance that the group would not express confidence in her.

The Fianna Fáil frontbench will also meet on Tuesday, but a number of senior party TDs privately said there was no way they would allow a Sinn Féin motion of no confidence in Ms O'Sullivan to succeed in the Dáil. The motion is due to be taken on April 12th.

Numerous party TDs, however, said they did not believe Ms O’Sullivan should remain in position much longer but stressed they would not follow a Sinn Féin lead.

Party leader Micheál Martin at the weekend suggested Ms O’Sullivan should consider her position, and one TD said there was no way the party could go back from that.

“I think there is a process under way, and the conclusion of the process is that she goes,” said one.

Another said: “She is finished. That’s the truth, she is long term.”

Senior party figures, however, said only the Government or the Policing Authority could remove the commissioner. There is unease at the prospect of the Opposition forcing senior public servants to resign, which it is feared could set a dangerous precedent.

Ms O'Sullivan is expected to appear before the Oireachtas Justice Committee this week, and Mr O'Callaghan said "there are lots of questions that remain unanswered". He also sought to divert pressure on to Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald, and is pushing for her to answer Dáil questions on the issue on Tuesday.

Discrepancies

While Mr O’Callaghan said there were likely to be “many reasons” for the 937,000 breath tests that never happened, there were likely to be a “couple of dominant” reasons for the discrepancies and that Ms O’Sullivan should give an indication of what they are. This was echoed by Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

The Policing Authority would not comment on whether it would recommend that the Garda Commissioner should be removed from her post.

It is understood, however, that the authority is paying close attention to events. It is awaiting further information from the Garda on its figures and audit, and the commissioner’s appearance before the Oireachtas justice committee this week.