Penalty points issue: Gardaí continue to miss the point
Today’s revelations of continued abuse of the penalty points system in recent years requires context. The notion that abuse of the system had continued over the last 20 months, through all the upheavals surrounding the issue, in both politics and policing, beggars belief. The only conclusion that can be reached is that those abusing the system believed that supreme impunity attached to their actions, irrespective of what was unfolding in the world outside their offices.
One of the most notable aspects to the earlier controversy was the bizarre, bordering on ludicrous, excuses that were often given for deleting points, particularly for repeat offenders.
Excuses such as “Delivery of clothes to St Vincent de Paul”; “Philantrophic benevolence”; “Returning from funeral”; “Bees attacking livestock”: “Telephone call to return home”, are just a flavour of some of the more outlandish excuses. There was also a huge number of “medical emergencies” included. (Once the matter generated controversy, this excuse plummeted in volume, suggesting the public attention had led to a much healthier nation).
It might have been assumed that once the story made waves, everybody would have realised the game was up and desisted from the practice thereafter. Now it appears that for many senior officers, it was business as usual, except it would be conducted with greater care.
No more would the prying eyes of auditors or anybody else be able to point to abuse.
Instead, the excuses given for deleting points were narrowed down and perfected.
A sample audit of deletions would not detect anything hugely controversial in an excuse like “statutory exemption Emergency Vehicle.” Only a detailed and comprehensive audit, beyond anything ordinarily conducted, would uncover that that excuse had increased hugely in volume since the controversy blew up. In a number of cases examined, the vehicle in question was not even attached to the force or other emergency services, but privately owned.
An auditor might also have a benign reaction to “Undelivered An Post” if seen in a random sample of cases. Again, it would take detailed investigation to uncover that this excuse had increased hugely in the last 18 months.
If any one excuse goes to the heart of the nature of the abuse it is “Incorrect Townland.” Again, an auditor would see nothing out of the ordinary in such as case if seen in isolation. This infers that the processing of a fixed notice charge suffered from a technical glitch through the wrong name being applied to where a Go-Safe van was located to detect speeding.
But, as the Irish Examiner reports today, this excuse was used in a number of cases to delete points for members of the force only. In one instance, dozens of other detected motorists at the same locations were not informed of this alleged “glitch” and had to suffer both the fine and the application of points to their licence. In other words, those on the inside had their problem sorted, while Joe and Josephine Public just had to take their medicine for the same offence, in the same location.
The sense of impunity suggested by that carry-on is bad enough, but it would appear that those deleting points felt they could continue to do so even after Acting Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan announced a new regime on June 18. She ordered that henceforth deletions could only occur in the central processing office in Thurles.
Yet, the deletions continued in some regional offices right up until last month at least.
The understanding that senior officers around the country would be physically unable to delete points under the new regime appears to be wide of the mark.
A fortnight ago, Acting Commissioner O’Sullivan was informed about this new abuse through Sergeant Maurice McCabe. She is understood to be investigating it with the kind of rigour that was sadly lacking from the top of the force in the past. On foot of the report, she referred it to the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald with a request that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission investigate the matter.
There are other differences. Last January, then Commissioner Martin Callinan suggested that allegations of abuse had come from just two members, McCabe, and retired garda John Wilson. The Irish Examiner understands that McCabe was first alerted to the most recent abuse by other officers who were concerned, but who were unwilling to act themselves.
Also, the head of the force no longer regards such allegations as “disgusting”.
O’Sullivan is one of the forerunners to be appointed to the commissioner’s job permanently, and she has seen how her predecessor left office following his handling of the original controversy. In addition, the penalty points issue fed into the controversies that forced Alan Shatter from the office of Minister for Justice. She appears to be intent on dealing with the matter.
In this vein, the offer to McCabe to effectively come inside the tent to assist the Professional Standards Unit is an astute move. The body politic and the public at large have come to see McCabe not as somebody with a “disgusting” agenda, but a well regarded officer who did the right thing despite the personal and professional cost to him and his family.
Should McCabe be appointed to a position in the standards unit, it is reasonable to assume that public confidence could be restored in the system. Apart from the apparent sense of impunity evident in the continued abuse, there is also the matter of its implications for road safety. Most of the latest batch of cases of suspicious deletion of points involves repeat offenders. There is also the matter of lost revenue that is bound to reignite the interest of the Comptroller General’s office. And further questions will now inevitably be asked about the operation of the system in the Central Processing Office.
One way or the other, the controversy has not gone away. What will be interesting to observe is how the acting commissioner deals with it. She has made all the right noises since she assumed her current role. How she handles the matter will undoubtedly be of interest to the panel which decide later in the year who is to get the job on a permanent basis.
