Breath test audit disclosure
Deputy Micheál Martin criticised the lack of timely information given to the Policing Authority about the breath test audit and the missing internal reports. The Chair cut him off for time, and he reiterated that the authority had not received the required documentation.
People were genuinely shocked last evening when the Policing Authority issued a statement in which it again expressed its disappointment at not being advised in a timely manner that an audit into the breath test issues was under way. Despite questioning over several months, the authority has not yet been provided with the full internal reports or indeed a clear sense of how these matters have been handled to date within An Garda Síochána or of the status and content of the audits that have been undertaken. That is very disquieting to say the least. It calls for a response from Government and from the Minister for Justice and Equality. The Taoiseach said yesterday that he would be meeting leaders of the House with regard to this long-announced root-and-branch reform. In my view, a strengthening of the legislative capacity of the Policing Authority is clearly required. When new bodies are set up, there has been a tendency on the part of An Garda Síochána to look at them askance and see them almost as something to be dealt with or taken on. This suggests that there has been very little respect for the Policing Authority in terms of the gravity and scale of this issue-----
Comment on this
-----and the fact that there has been no provision of the requisite documentation and information to the authority.