THE EX-GARDA WHISTLEBLOWER who might appear before the Public Accounts Committee next week about the penalty points allegations has again called for a public inquiry into the issue.

John Wilson has been invited to attend the PAC next week, but it has not been confirmed if this will occur.

It emerged yesterday that Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan is seeking legal advice over the proposed appearances of two garda whistleblowers, Wilson and serving garda Maurice McCabe, at the PAC.

Wilson said on Saturday with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1 today that following the comments of Commissioner Callinan – who said the allegations were ‘disgusting’ – he doesn’t “think there will be a queue of guards lining up in the coming weeks to report malpractice in the guards”.

Wilson has left the force, but after his allegations emerged while he was still in an Garda Siochána, he was at one point forbidden to use the Pulse system unless under supervision.

Discretion

He said today that the issue of discretion with fixed penalty notices “has been used as a fig leaf to muddy the waters and discredit myself and my colleague”.

While he said that discretion should always be shown by members of the force, he asked “who has the right to terminate four speeding tickets in one day?”

He added that if the systems put in place to deal with complaints or allegations by gardaí who want to report wrong doings were “working properly there would have been no need to go outside the organisation”.

The issue has “pretty much dominated my life”, said Wilson. He said his family are very supportive of him and that he approached TD Clare Daly on the issue as “this is about right and wrong”.

Inquiry

“I want an independent inquiry in relation to the allegations we have made,” said Wilson. “It would take a judge or a senior counsel I’d say about half an hour to establish that our allegations are credible.”

He added that “with the greatest respect to Assistant Commissioner John O’Mahoney”, “you cannot have guards investigating guards” as “it’s just not credible”.

“I believe that this matter will ultimately have to be adjudicated upon [with] an independent public inquiry,” said Wilson.

Deputy Pascal Donohoe, a former member of PAC, said that it is “completely a matter for PAC”.

“I believe people need to think through the way it will be handled,” he said.

Read: ‘Where is the national scandal here?’: Callinan defends garda handling of penalty points>