Gsoc critical of Garda penalty point failures as it abandons its investigation

Gsoc has criticised the failure by Garda management to sanction members of the force who abused the penalty points system despite some of those officers ranking as high as superintendent.

The Garda complaints body has had to abandon its own attempts to investigate gardaí for potential criminal wrongdoing, telling the Department of Justice the task is too big, the budget too small and the likelihood of successful prosecutions too weak to justify pursuing the matter further.

However, Gsoc said members of the force could have been disciplined by their own management for the way in which they cancelled fixed charge penalty notices without proper reason for favoured individuals.