Claims of pressure on gardaí rejected by management

Senior gardai have denied they knew of the widescale falsification of alcohol breath test data, contradicting claims by rank-and-file gardaí that management applied pressure to inflate figures.

The flat denial by top officers puts them on a collision course with ordinary gardai, after the Garda Representative Association has left the blame with senior and middle force members.

Refusals by the force to own up as to how some 1.5m breath tests were made up saw frustrated TDs claim either “inept” managers or “collusion” was to blame for the bogus test recordings.