A garda whistleblower will face the Public Accounts Committee next week to give evidence on the alleged quashing of penalty points.
The watchdog trawled through the information at a meeting last night ahead of a showdown with Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan today.
They examined the contents of a box from one of two whistleblowers for an hour.
However, it was heavily redacted to meet the Data Protection Commissioner’s demands.
A second box was also handed to the TDs yesterday by Sinn Fein TD Padraig MacLochlainn but the PAC has not had a chance to examine it.
The watchdog did agree to call in the whistleblower to discuss the material at a meeting next week.
They will be given the option of a meeting in private or public. He will also be told to seek his own legal advice before appearing.
Commissioner Callinan will face questions on the penalty points scandal today but the PAC has agreed not to quiz him on the contents of the dossiers.
He previously wrote to the committee warning he will not go into details of the scandal. His letter read: “I do not know what information is contained in the files which were furnished to you by a member of the gardai.
“However, in so far as you have said those files contain sensitive, personal data which you are redacting I must assume the files relate to individuals.
“As I have already said I believe those files should be returned to me as the data controller.”
Commissioner Callinan asked PAC chairman John McGuinness to hand the evidence back but he refused after taking legal advice.
Commissioner Callinan said the committee was not authorised to “receive sensitive, personal data disclosed without authorisation of the relevant data controller”.
One claim was that a well-known sports star was caught speeding five times in one day but received no fines or points.
Gardai last night rejected that and said it was a person with the same name who told gardai his house was flooded and he was trying to mend pipes and save his possessions.
SOURCE-IRISH MIRROR
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