Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said, “individual accountability” was needed.
In September, an investigation into how almost one million false breath tests were logged on the An Garda Síochána computer systems revealed that there were another 500,000 false tests.
Assistant Commissioner Michael O’Sullivan said at the time in an official statement by An Garda Síochána that “evidence suggests members of An Garda Síochána were also engaged in inflating this data, whether intentional or unintentional, is even more damaging to public confidence.”
However, according to The Sunday Times, Gardai are being urged to admit test fraud in order to skip sanctions being imposed and the paper reveals that it could act as an escape for members involved in the scandal.
Gardai who admit to falsely increasing the number of breath tests they carried out could escape serious punishment under a plan being considered by acting Garda commissioner Dónall Ó Cualáin.
The commissioner is looking at how to respond to the scandal after Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said that he wanted to ensure that there was “individual accountability” in getting to the bottom of the story.
Ó Cualáin may ask officers involved to admit to any wrongdoing over false breathalyser tests or instead, they will more than likely face some form of disciplinary action.
The 2005 Garda Siochana Act says officers who accept responsibility for mistakes can be sanctioned with either a caution, warning or informal reprimand. These are put on a Garda’s personnel file for a year and do not affect careers and promotions.
If the breach of discipline is more serious, stronger rules will apply and senior officers are then allowed to issue stronger fines or take more drastic action.
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