Where’s the justice in penalty points ‘scandal’?

Chris Huhne, former British minister, pleaded guilty on Feb 4 to perverting the course of justice by persuading his wife to accept penalty points on her driving licence for a speeding offence he had committed.

He resigned as a minister, will be resigning from the House of Commons, and will probably receive a jail sentence. In Ireland, far more serious issues have arisen with regard to inappropriate interference with the penalty points system on driving licences.

Whistle-blowers including Clare Daly TD, have revealed that, in thousands of cases, driving penalty points were removed from the Garda Pulse System by gardaí, allegedly for inappropriate reasons. We may never know the full extent of this scandal because an independent inquiry has so far been refused. The Garda Síochána has been directed to investigate these alleged inappropriate interferences with the justice system. Those who have “benefited” from this scandal are reported to include members of the judiciary, politicians, gardaí, and their relatives, journalists, sports personalities and many others. This scandal is arguably one of the most serious cases of what may amount to multiple incidents of perverting the course of justice that has occurred in Ireland in recent decades, if not in the history of the state. However, there has been very limited public outcry, and the media response has been rather muted.