Blowing whistle on points fiasco

IN THE beginning, the penalty points story had some celebrity wattage. A judge was alleged to have been the beneficiary of cancelled points.

A high-profile journalist was also whispered in dispatches. Then there was an Irish sports star of excellent repute. All were understood to have benefited from a system in which it was alleged those on the inside, or the upper echelons, received favours on the basis of their status.

In reality, the celebrity wattage was just a side issue. What was really being uncovered was a system that had been corrupted by the nod-and-wink culture that was supposed to have been consigned to the past. It wasn’t “who you were” that determined whether you got to cheat the law, but “who you knew” in the gardaí.