Garda Ombudsman to investigate penalty points

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said he will ask the Garda Ombudsman Commission to investigate the penalty points affair.

The Minister also wants to change the law to empower the Ombudsman Commission to investigate complaints made to it by individual gardaí.

Mr Shatter's intervention this evening comes amid discussions within the Public Accounts Committee on the possibility of a public hearing on Thursday with a serving Garda sergeant who has made complaints about the cancellation of penalty points within the force.

However, the Minister said in a statement that he hoped people would allow the Ombudsman Commission to proceed “unhindered” with its investigation.

“The reality is that there are legal and practical constraints on the ability of the PAC to determine the veracity of claims made in relation to individual penalty point cases,” he said.

"This could lead to a situation where the Committee is simply used as a platform for persons to make a series of unsubstantiated assertions on which the Committee would not be able to come to a reliable conclusion and which could be very damaging to individual members of An Garda Síochána and to private citizens."

Mr Shatter said he has discussed the situation with Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan, who has taken legal advice from the Attorney General on the possibility of a challenge to any public hearing at the PAC from garda whistelblowers.

The minister said the Commissioner’s concerns about the impact on the Garda of actions that might be taken by the PAC were “legitimate”. He added, however, that Mr Callinan did not want to find himself in conflict with the PAC.

“We both believe that it is in the public interest that this matter is put to bed once and for all and that it is important that circumstances in which continuing allegations are being made should be addressed definitively to allay any public concerns,” Mr Shatter said.

“In circumstances where the Garda authorities have not been made fully aware of allegations being made and the manner in which allegations are being pursued, it is necessary to identify a method where any public concerns can be addressed, without An Garda Síochána finding itself at the centre of political controversies, or having senior management of the Force continuously distracted from their primary job of protecting the public.”

Mr Shatter can under Section 102 of the Garda Síochána Act ask the Garda Ombudsman Commission to investigate certain matters relating to the force if he considers it desirable in the public interest. “I am making the necessary arrangement to do so,” he said.

“It seems to me, particularly in the light of circumstances where allegations are being continuously made and the political controversy which An Garda Síochána finds itself at the centre of, that circumstances have now arisen where it is in the public interest to refer the allegations which are being made and the manner in which those allegations have been pursued, including issues relating to the preservation of the integrity of Garda records, to GSOC.”

Mr Shatter noted that the legislation governing the Ombudsman Commission does not allow it to investigate complaints made directly to it by members of the Garda.
"I believe that this general prohibition has adversely affected the ability to address circumstances of the kind which have arisen in relation to penalty points," he said.

“I have been reviewing the relevant provisions of the Garda Síochána Act, 2005 with a view to bringing forward proposals to Government to address this issue and expect to shortly do so.”