Officers blame tech and training for breath test figures

Senior officers do not believe frontline gardaí deliberately falsified breath test numbers and that the problem stemmed from members being overworked, together with a lack of proper equipment and training.

President of the Association of Garda Superintendents Noel Cunningham said the problem was definitely not a “cultural one” and that gardaí were acting “in a responsible manner”.

The view of the AGS chief appears to be at odds with that of Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan, who has described the fake figures as being the result of “at best incompetence and, at worst, deception”.