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Sam Boal

Gardaí on breath test scandal: 'It's not collective responsibility, it's a management issue'

The head of the Garda Representative Association said the role of managers is to ensure lower ranks are properly supervised.

THE ASSOCIATION REPRESENTING rank-and-file gardaí has said the breath test scandal is a management issue and blame should not fall on its members.

Speaking ahead of the Garda Representative Association’s (GRA) annual delegate conference in Salthill, Co Galway, president Ciaran O’Neill said his organisation has not been asked to get involved in the current investigation into how almost a million breath tests that never happened ended up on the Pulse system.

“But this is a management issue – they’re the ones that come up with the statistics, they’re the ones that set up the checkpoints, they’re the ones that are sending people out every day to do the checkpoints,” he told reporters.

He said the role of managers is to “ensure the job is done”.

Their role is to make sure checkpoints are set up and their role is to make sure we are being properly supervised.

In March, garda management revealed that over a five year period, some two million breath tests were recorded on the force’s internal system. A review of these figures found almost a million of these tests never actually happened.

At the same time, they confirmed an error meant 146,856 summonses were wrongly issued to drivers.

An internal investigation into the phantom breath tests is currently ongoing and Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has said at best it was “incompetence, at worst deception”.

O’Neill rejected O’Sullivan’s comments that there was responsibility for this at every level, from bottom to top.

“How could it be a collective responsibility when we don’t know and we’ve no part to say whether we have been involved or haven’t been involved. We haven’t been part of the investigation at that level.”

He said if there was deception or dishonesty, there are discipline regulations to deal with that, though he added these regulations had not yet been invoked.

O’Neill also said he thinks recent scandals will give fuel to people “whose mindset would be against An Garda Síochána”.

“But the majority realise it’s not the guards on the job, not the guard on the frontline – the issues lie with senior management”.

For live updates from the conference in Galway over the next three days, follow @michellehetweet.

Read: Terrorism, assaults and the right to grow beards will be debated by rank-and-file gardaí>

Read: Commissioner to sergeants and inspectors: ‘You’re the supervisors – so what happened?’>

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36 Comments
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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:39 PM

    It’s no one’s fault. It just happened. It had nothing at all to do with the Guards. Someone else did it. The Guards were not even there and anway no one saw anyone do anything.

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    Mute Les Behan
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:43 PM

    @Tony Daly: Aliens. It’s always aliens!

    103
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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:46 PM

    @Les Behan: that’s the story and we are sticking to it.

    79
    See 4 more replies ▾
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    Mute Daffy the Bear
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:51 PM

    @Tony Daly: It was the immigants! Even when it was the bears, I knew it was the immigants!

    52
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    Mute Les Behan
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:01 PM

    @Daffy the Bear: “The Rand Corporation, in conjunction with the saucer people
    ,under the supervision of the reverse vampires” at the behest of the immigants who work for the aliens.” Case closed!

    Scooby Doo was an amature.

    29
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    Mute Bad Bob
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:36 PM

    Yes, an interesting attempt to get the shit to roll back uphill !

    32
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    Mute gregory
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    Apr 24th 2017, 8:52 PM

    @Tony Daly: that’s not fair Tony. Direction comes from the top. Garda management have control over statistics and direct policy. I have great respect for the Gardai on the ground who do an excellent job imho

    22
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    Mute john s
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:39 PM

    Managements fault for not supervising I’ve heard it all now. gardai are corrupt and when people used to say it was a few bad eggs this scandal shows it is throughout the rank and file.

    226
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    Mute Jimmyjoe Wallace
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:01 PM

    @john s: instead of a few bad eggs, it’s seems there’s only a few good eggs in the force.

    123
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    Mute David Huston
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:19 PM

    Unless they used the same mouth pieces on the breathalyser more than once,Therefore opening the flood gates for cross contamination cases of infection against the state.

    34
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    Mute Just Me
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:45 PM

    The most basic requirement for a garda should be truthfulness.

    142
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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:05 PM

    @Just Me: from the gardai declaration of values ‘Article 11 Discharge our professional responsibilities and public duties with
    probity and integrity in the interest of the public good.’

    45
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    Mute Patrick James Walsh
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    Apr 25th 2017, 1:06 AM

    @Just Me: T
    I` say the most basic requirement for guards should be (basic) intelligence.

    12
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    Mute Shane Fleming
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:04 PM

    That’s a good one alright. Blame management for the rank and file putting a million extra tests into the system.

    85
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    Mute john s
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:44 PM

    The gra have no shame and management have questions on how they let the vast majority of gardai do such a corrupt practice . Every part of the country effected

    112
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    Mute Kerry Blake
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:41 PM

    Can I just ask the GRA who entered the figures into the system and is he claiming officers on the job can not be trusted to do their job if they are not supervised by a senior officer? Because if that is the case the Garda need to be disbanded immediately.

    79
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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:02 PM

    Complete and utter bullish!t. Disgraceful actually coming from a garda body. By that logic it’s not my responsibility to obey the law, its yours to catch me breaking it!!

    130
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    Mute Pat Troy
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:46 PM

    Do these guys ever work.

    77
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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:48 PM

    @Pat Troy: you try making all of that stuff up. It’s bloody hard work. There is no time for anything else.

    78
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    Mute Glen Harding
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:54 PM

    Could somebody in this country stand up and take responsibility for once. Noreen ? Where are you?

    82
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    Mute lavbeer
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:41 PM

    We don’t know what happened officially but large pinch of salt needed here.

    64
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    Mute Jimmyjoe Wallace
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:00 PM

    Talk about passing the buck!

    61
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    Mute @mdmak33
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:10 PM

    Public confidence will never be restored when present management is still in office.1 million false tests and no one knows who is guilty says a lot about the Gda force.

    48
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    Mute Just Me
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:32 PM

    @@mdmak33: 27,000 euro goes missing in Malahide Gda station in 2013. 9,000 euro in Balbriggan 2013. 12,000 euro in Southside station in 2016. All have one thing in common, no one charged with the missing moneys.

    71
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    Mute Tony Daly
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:41 PM

    It ain’t a fair cop, mate.

    36
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    Mute leartius
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    Apr 24th 2017, 8:06 PM

    So who is guilty of entering false data onto the pulse system? I would say the person connected to the fingers who typed in false data. You could also say that sergeants/inspectors who allowed this problem to reach a million false entry’s are guilty of a lesser crime.
    We are now spending tens of millions on a new computer system that is already pointless when Gardaí are willing to falsify records and not investigate crimes that are reported.
    Gardaí management where happy to publish these figures even cancelling a contract for those plastic devices to coverup wrongdoing.
    Not one garda has being suspended, from evidence of a million crimes committed by those picking up a cheque every week and waiting on a big pension.
    It’s a disgrace but justice for Irish men and women died when the English left and we inbred our police force to coverup abuses instead of protecting citizens it protects a corrupt establishment.

    34
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    Mute Paul Comerford
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    Apr 25th 2017, 12:35 AM

    @leartius: so a civilian in castlebar then??? As it’s all done over the phone!!!

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    Mute Irish big fellow
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    Apr 24th 2017, 7:31 PM

    Who is to blame? There must be a paper trail of data supplied from the bottom up. When this is examined can any verdict be made on who is responsible.

    33
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    Mute Tony Mcgrath
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    Apr 24th 2017, 8:16 PM

    What he’s saying is that the truth doesn’t matter only the conviction

    18
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    Mute Gerry Carroll
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    Apr 24th 2017, 9:00 PM

    PEBKAC – Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair! Are the management not Gardai or a separate species? Looks like fingers pointing every direction except at themselves.

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    Mute Peter Higgins
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    Apr 24th 2017, 8:33 PM

    Now you have it. Everything cleared up. And there was I thinking that the Gardai must be responsible. Glad of that, I had almost lost all respect for them

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    Mute Catherine Mc
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    Apr 24th 2017, 8:28 PM

    Actually I think gardai carrying out these tests haven’t inputted this information in recent years, weren’t the rules changed a few years ago, something happened and only senior members of the station were allowed access to systems.

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    Mute John Deed
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    Apr 24th 2017, 9:06 PM

    Who do they think they’re fooling now. This is incredible crap coming from an assoc which should show some responsible leadership.

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    Mute Paul Lane
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    Apr 25th 2017, 4:14 AM

    The arrogance of these jumped up whinging cheats is unbelievable

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    Mute Tomas Lyne
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    Apr 24th 2017, 6:51 PM

    You ever seen shit roll uphill?

    51
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    Mute Chris Finn
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    Apr 25th 2017, 9:56 AM

    Lol a child avoids doing his homework.

    Child “it’s my parents fault they’re supposed to make it happen. Not us. I wasn’t even in the parent teacher meeting to discuss” lol!

    Some gardai are really decent. An overwhelming are lazy with a terrible attitude and they were no doubt the pinnacle of laziness. They just continued doing it and didn’t question it for an awfully long time.

    Not to say mgmt aren’t alone too, they are. They all are lol

    3
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