Penalty points scandal - Minister must do the right thing

There could scarcely be a more damning indictment of the Garda operation of the penalty points system than the independent Garda Inspectorate report which, as even Justice Minister Alan Shatter has finally been forced to admit, highlights “major administrative dysfunction and a failure of management oversight”.

Nor could there be a more resounding vindication of Garda whistleblowers, Sergeant Maurice McCabe and former garda John Wilson, shamefully treated by the force and let down by this Government. Instead of getting the support whistleblowers deserve, they were undermined and isolated at immense cost to career and health — for having the courage to highlight abuse of the fixed charge notice system.

If anything, what the inspectorate has unearthed goes far beyond the Government’s worst fears. It discovered “consistent and widespread breaches of policy” by those charged with administering the penalty points system. With few exceptions, it found no meaningful evidence that management would have detected and rectified the problem. In future, it adds, the quashing of points should be handled centrally.

In any other jurisdiction, the minister for justice would fall on his sword. Considerable damage to the Coalition’s image has been self-inflicted by Minister Alan Shatter’s handling of this affair. His refusal to listen will now be seen for what it is — political arrogance. His preemptive statement was a failed attempt at damage limitation.

Typifying his patronising performance, the minister had the temerity to say, when asked if he would set the Dáil record straight, that the whistleblowers “got a number of things correct”.

He went on to say, however, that some of the charges had not been established. On the contrary, judging by the findings of the inspectorate, they opened a can of worms and by inference seem to have got far more right than the minister and Garda Commissioner Martin Hallinan between them.

Most people have been justifiably incensed by his failure to apologise to Sgt McCabe after wrongly claiming that he had failed to cooperate with an internal Garda inquiry. If, as expected, the minister refuses to resign, he should at least say sorry to Sgt McCabe and say it unequivocally. What many will find depressing is that six years ago, a report by the Garda Ombudsman Commission described the penalty points system as utterly dysfunctional, ineffective, with only 17% of cases then reaching a conclusion. Two governments have turned deaf ears to its warning.

Until the courageous intervention of the whistleblowers, little was done to put things right.

The reputation of the gardaí has already suffered deeply because of one word unwisely used by Commissioner Callinan who, though he does concede deficiencies exist, also claims no problem was found in 95.4% of penalty points issued over a three-year period.

The commissioner lost public sympathy when he told the Public Accounts Committee that out of a force of over 13,000, only two people were making what he called “extraordinary serious allegations”. And he added “there isn’t a whisper anywhere else, from any other member of the Garda Siochána about this corruption, this malpractice and all of those things that were levelled against their fellow officers. Quite frankly I think its quite disgusting”.

Disgusting? No wonder only two whistleblowers put their heads above the parapet. In light of this damning report, the commissioner should consider his position.