PAC defies Garda chief over penalty point files
Members held a private meeting last night to examine the contents of the box, and determined it was relevant to its examination of whether public money was wasted by a failure to properly implement the system.
It will write to Mr Callinan today to inform him of the decision, which defies his demands last month that the box be handed back “forthwith”.
Mr Callinan is due to appear before the committee on Jan 23.
He had written to its chairman, John McGuinness, last month, claiming that accessing the boxes would lead to a breach of the law. “I am of the view that these files, containing personal data, are files which I am responsible for and accordingly should be returned forthwith to me,” he said.
Mr Callinan also made a complaint to the Data Protection Commissioner, Billy Hawkes, who backed his position.
Mr Hawkes told the committee: “If, as is alleged, personal data has been removed from An Garda Síochána without the authorisation of the Garda Commissioner, and if that personal data has been passed on to you, a third party, the Garda Commissioner is correct in reporting to me that the Data Protection Acts have been breached.”
It sought help from Oireachtas legal advisers before proceeding with opening the box at a private meeting yesterday.
The committee had been advised earlier this month that it could only look at if or how the State was losing money as a result of alleged abuse of the system, and not the personal information.
Members have now been asked to consider whether to invite the whistleblower to appear before the committee.
The batch of information now in the possession of the committee is understood not to have been available to the Comptroller & Auditor General in a report that outlined how one-in-five motorists caught for fixed-charge notices managed to evade fines.
