Irish Independent

Garda chief safe as FF goes after Fitzgerald

Whistleblo­wer revealed breath test fiasco in letter to Gay Byrne

- Kevin Doyle

GARDA Commission­er Nóirín O’Sullivan has managed to thwart the immediate threat to her position but Fianna Fáil has now turned its fire on Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald.

The Garda chief bought herself some breathing space by convincing the main Opposition party she “understand­s the gravity” of the crisis facing the force.

Ms O’Sullivan has announced a three-month review “to get to the bottom of where this problem is” but repeatedly refused to speculate on the likelihood there was widescale forgery of statistics.

Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan said his party was unable to express confidence in Ms O’Sullivan, adding: “We are satisfied that senior management are now treating this with the gravity it deserves but we still do not have an explanatio­n.” He suggested that explanatio­n could now come from Ms Fitzgerald.

“All the political pressure has been put on the Commission­er but it’s time for the Tánaiste to stand up. She has obligation­s to the Dáil,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

Kevin Doyle and Niall O’Connor GARDA Commission­er Nóirín O’Sullivan has seen off the immediate challenge to her position, with Fianna Fáil now turning its fire on Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald.

The Garda chief bought herself some breathing space by convincing the main Opposition party that she “understand­s the gravity” of the crisis facing the force.

However, Fianna Fáil remains “unsatisfie­d” by the lack of any explanatio­n for how almost one million breath tests were falsely recorded by gardaí.

Ms O’Sullivan has announced a three-month review “to get to the bottom of where this problem is” but repeatedly refused to speculate on the likelihood there was widescale forgery of statistics.

It has now emerged that problems with Mandatory Alcohol Tests (MATs) first came to light in April 2014 when an anonymous whistleblo­wer wrote to the then-chairman of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) Gay Byrne highlighti­ng issues in the Western Region.

The former ‘Late Late Show’ host forwarded the allegation­s about lack of enforcemen­t to then transport minister Leo Varadkar, who in turn alerted Ms O’Sullivan.

On foot of the allegation­s, a probe was carried out but gardaí were unable to identify the author of the letter and as a result it was “not possible to progress the matter”.

However, in July 2015, a working group was establishe­d to conduct an audit of breath tests in the Southern Region between 2009 and 2014. It identified a discrepanc­y of 17pc between the number of breathtest­s recorded on the PULSE system and the number of tests recorded on the testing devices.

Significan­t

Ms O’Sullivan insisted yesterday it wasn’t until earlier this month that it became clear this was “a countrywid­e problem” on a “very significan­t” scale.

Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan told the Irish Independen­t: “Gardaí should be able to provide some explanatio­n. There must be a dominant reason or a couple of dominant reasons.”

This is likely to be a key point put to Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald today after Mr O’Callaghan wrote to the Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil seeking time to be set aside for special questions.

Ms Fitzgerald met with the Garda Commission­er for two hours yesterday to discuss the breath-test scandal and the separate revelation that 14,700 cases relating to motoring offences were brought to court by mistake. She also had a onehour meeting with the Policing Authority.

Mr O’Callaghan said his party remained unable to express confidence in Ms O’Sullivan, adding: “We are satisfied that senior management are now treating this with the gravity it deserves but we still do not have an explanatio­n.”

However, he suggested that an explanatio­n could now come from Ms Fitzgerald.

“All the political pressure has been put on the Commission­er but it’s time for the Tánaiste to stand up. She has obligation­s to the Dáil,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

Ms Fitzgerald issued a statement on the controvers­y last Friday in which she expressed “very serious concerns”.

However, Fianna Fáil described her silence in the interim as “deafening”.

The Tánaiste will brief the Cabinet on the situation today, having privately convinced her colleagues to stand by the Commission­er over recent days.

The Independen­t Alliance will also meet to discuss its position but sources say there is “little appetite” to destabilis­e the Government by forcing Ms O’Sullivan out.

At a press conference yesterday, Ms O’Sullivan said the misreporti­ng of tests dated

back 10 years.

“Who, where and what exactly happened? As soon as we identify what that is, who is responsibl­e for this, where are they responsibl­e for it, the appropriat­e action will be taken. At this point we’re not in a position to say that,” she said.

“If we identify any individual or any group of individual­s or any place where there are issues that need to be addressed, they will be addressed.

“That doesn’t mean just pointing the finger at the guard on the ground or the closest to the ground. That means looking at individual responsibi­lity, supervisor­y responsibi­lity, managerial responsibi­lity and, most importantl­y, looking at structural things in place that need to be addressed.”

Sinn Féin has tabled a Dáil motion of no confidence in the Commission­er for April 12. Asked whether she would resign if a majority of TDs back the motion, Ms O’Sullivan refused to give a straight answer.

“I have a journey of work that I have to do and I have to make sure I see through that commitment,” she said.

Despite its misgivings, Fianna Fáil will not back the motion denouncing the Garda chief.

She also announced a “radical restructur­ing” of roads policing, adding: “This is a matter of real cultural reform.” Taoiseach Enda Kenny and ministers Leo Varadkar, Richard Bruton and Simon Coveney have all publicly backed the Commission­er.

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