Audit uncovers fresh penalty point abuses by gardaí

The audit into allegations of continued abuse of the penalty points system is expected to confirm all the latest allegations made by Sgt Maurice McCabe and include further instances of misuse uncovered by the investigation team.

The Irish Examiner understands the audit is complete and may already have been forwarded to interim Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan, who has stated that it will be published.

The instances of spurious termination of penalty points for some motorists include a number that occurred after last June when a new regime was introduced which centralised the power to delete points to Thurles.

Under the new regime, only three officers were authorised to delete points, but the audit has uncovered instances in which senior officers continued to misuse the system by cancelling fixed charge notices in stations around the country.

The audit was ordered by Ms O’Sullivan after she was furnished with a dossier of allegations from Sgt McCabe last August, which included allegations passed to him by other officers.

The imminent publication of the report comes just days after the report by the Garda Inspectorate into criminal investigations delivered a devastating critique of garda practices and management. The audit will be the first time that an internal garda probe has uncovered serious malpractice by some of its senior officers. A previous probe under assistant commissioner John O’Mahony in 2013 found a low level of abuse, but was contradicted by reports from the Comp-troller and Auditor General and Garda Inspectorate.

The audit was undertaken by the Professional Standards Unit of the force, and assisted by Sgt McCabe. It is expected that the PSU will make recommendations to tighten the operation of the system after it uncovered instances of spurious terminations in addition to the file furnished by Sgt McCabe.

Among the allegations examined was one in which a member of the force had five deletions, the last of which was made two weeks after the introduction of the new regime on June 18.

Another feature of the abuse was that reasons given were not in the “exotic” category, as previous ones had been, but ones that would not arouse suspicion unless probed further. Examples included “Statutory exemption. Emergency vehicle”, a reason that may be valid if the vehicle was operated on behalf of the force, but which were private cars. Others were “Undelivered An Post”, used a number of times by members of the force, and in one instance by a motorist who had three terminations.

In response to questions as to whether the interim commissioner has been furnished with the results of the audit, a spokesman for the Garda Síochána said: “The report is nearing completion.”