What the hell was going on in Tipperary?
An Garda Síochána have released a regional breakdown of figures relating to the exaggeration of breath tests in Ireland in recent years.
On Wednesday, an official Garda statement was released in response to the breath test controversy, after an investigation found that another 500,000 false breath tests had been recorded in addition to the huge discrepancy in the number of tests recorded compared to the number of tests reported between June 2009 and April 2017.
In a report published on Wednesday, deficiencies in technology and data controls, resources, supervision, policy and procedures and training were identified as factors which enabled the discrepancies to occur and continue.
A detailed geographical breakdown was also provided, which compared the number of tests recorded on the test devices (Drägers) with the number of tests recorded on the PULSE system.
While there was a discrepancy in the figures in every division, some were more notable than others.
In Tipperary, for example, there was a difference of 385% in the figures recorded on the test devices and the figures recorded on PULSE, while the number was also extraordinarily high in DMR (Dublin Metropolitan Region) Western (373%), Meath (315%) and Louth (213%).
At the other end of the scale meanwhile, the discrepancy was relatively low in the Kerry (9%), DMR Southern (17%) and Wexford (18%) divisions (see table below).
While the report concluded that no behaviour was discovered that would merit criminal investigation, it was acknowledged that the fact that members of An Garda Síochána were also engaged in inflating the data, whether intentional or unintentional “is even more damaging to public confidence”.
“The views expressed in this report are not intended to dilute, in any way, what has transpired in the past,” the report stated.
“An Garda Síochána, as an organisation, released breath test data into the public domain on an annual basis. It is reasonable that members of the public and external agencies who then relied upon these figures should expect that they were accurate and that the collection of this data had been subject to robust governance procedures.
“The failure to ensure that this occurred reflects poorly on the professionalism with which this organisation discharged its responsibilities. That the evidence also suggests members of An Garda Síochána were also engaged in inflating this data, whether intentional or unintentional, is even more damaging to public confidence.
“This examination did not discover any behaviour that would merit criminal investigation. As stated, all incidents identified with inflated breath test figures have been referred to Regional Commissioners for further examination/investigation as deemed necessary.”
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