Comment: Shatter didn’t act quickly enough in penalty points row

Alan Shatter prides himself on being a reforming minister who’s not afraid to take on vested interests and to act quickly to sort things out.

But the justice minister’s failure to deal with the penalty points issue promptly and decisively in the first place has resulted in a long, drawn-out controversy which has dented the reputation of both the Garda and the Dáil’s most important committee, the PAC.

Mr Shatter announced last night he would refer the issue to the Garda Ombudsman Commission so the matter is “put to bed” for once and for all.

His intervention to hold an independent investigation was welcomed across the political spectrum and considered a necessary move to calm a gathering storm.

But questions must be asked about the timing of his decision to involve an independent investigator almost two years after the whistle was first blown on alleged failures to implement the penalty point system, with claims that charges were being written off by senior officers.

Instead of announcing he would hold an independent investigation when it first came to his attention, the minister has chosen to do it on the eve of a planned appearance by a Garda whistleblower before the PAC.

That testimony could have turned into a major embarrassment for the Garda authorities — something that is now expected to be avoided by Mr Shatter’s latest move and his warning that the ombudsman should be allowed to proceed with the work “unhindered”.

The minister said the allegations must be “addressed definitively” so that public concerns are allayed. But he had opportunities to do this sooner.

After all, the whistleblowers in question used the avenues available to them to report their concerns to the internal “confidential recipient” process, an independent party which receives complaints regarding gardaí, back in April 2012.

The claims were then referred to Mr Shatter’s office, as per procedure. But instead of launching an independent investigation, he referred the matter to Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.

He, in turn, responded to the complaint in late December of that year — a full eight months after the complaints were made — stating the matter would be investigated by Assistant Commissioner John O’Mahony.

He then carried out an investigation — which did not include interviewing the whistleblowers, and published his conclusion last May, that there was no evidence penalty point notices were improperly cancelled because of corruption, deception, falsification of records or malpractice.

Mr Shatter declared that investigation to have been “comprehensive”. When it was stated the whistleblowers found it to be a whitewash, he said anybody with further concerns could refer them to the Oireachtas justice committee.

One whistleblower used the rights available to him under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 to refer concerns to a member of the Oireachtas.

He gave a dossier to PAC chairman John McGuinness, kicking off the process which Mr Shatter last night said was the force “finding itself as the centre of a political controversy”.

The minister put the blame for the damaging controversy firmly on the shoulders of some PAC members, who he said had a “tendency to prejudge issues” in the media.

In doing so he overlooked the fact his office could have done more in the first place — than simply allowing the police to police themselves — that could have prevented the debacle from coming to this point.

Instead, the reputations of both the PAC and the force have suffered from what he describes as the “rolling controversy”.

If there is one positive outcome, it is that the inadequacies of the system for gardaí to raise concerns about practices in the force has been highlighted.

The confidential recipient process was put in place after the Morris Tribunal and clearly did not fulfil its function in this case. And members of the force are themselves not entitled to make a complaint to the ombudsman.

Moreover, the ombudsman does not have the power to question the commissioner, or to access the Garda’s Pulse electronic system.

Mr Shatter said last night he will examine the law so members of the force can bring their complaints to the individual office.

If this and further reforms are taken then the whistleblowers on this penalty point issue will have done the state some service.