Top garda had written report into penalty points system failings in 2007

The penalty points fiasco could have been tackled years ago if a previous report into the system’s shortcomings had not been shelved, it was claimed yesterday.

A day after a Garda inspectorate report delivered a damning indictment of the points system and how it has been administered, a former head of the Garda Traffic Bureau said he had uncovered similar faults in the system when he conducted a report for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC).

Speaking on Today with Sean O’Rourke on RTÉ yesterday, former Garda Chief Supt John O’Brien said that report had been conducted back in 2007 but had been “shelved” — something which he said “is not to anyone’s credit”.