‘PR put before garda motorbikes’

An order of new garda motorcycles has been ditched by management looking for ways of “freeing up” money to pay for a rebranding of the Traffic Corps in the wake of the breath-testing scandal.

Documents released under Freedom of Information show the cost of giving patrol cars and bikes a facelift with the unit’s new name, Roads Policing, will run into tens of thousands of euro.

Emails reveal that Joe Ainsworth, head of the garda fleet, privately conceded that there was no money for the revamp and suggested “freeing up” funds by dropping the budgeted purchase of an undisclosed number of motorbikes this year.