A leading road safety advocate has expressed his shock and disappointment at the findings of a report on attitudes within An Garda Síochána to roads policing.
The Crowe Report, commissioned by Garda Headquarters, found that a substantial number of gardaí assigned to roads policing were not doing their jobs and had no interest in doing it.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has promised to publish the report, which also shows that gardaí who were not carrying out their duties did not care that they were being monitored, and that their managers were not dealing with the problem.
An independent review of roads policing was launched after a garda whistleblower informed garda headquarters that a substantial number of the gardaí tasked with policing the roads were not doing their jobs.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Vice President of the Irish Road Victims Association Leo Lieghio, whose 16-year-old daughter Marsia was killed in 2005 after she was struck by a car, said it not just shocking but heartbreaking to hear that some members of roads policing are not interested in doing their job.
He said: “As someone who lost my daughter through dangerous driving, this report has left me absolutely devastated.
“To learn that the gardaí assigned specifically to roads policing, and they’re refusing to do their jobs, it’s open contempt., and it’s not just shocking, it’s heartbreaking.”
The report showed that gardaí who were not carrying out their duties did not care that they were being monitored
He added that the report showed that not only did gardaí fail at their basic duties at speed checks, road testing and drug driving, “but they also didn’t care, they didn’t even care that they were being watched or monitored”.
Mr Lieghio added: “That’s a complete betrayal of trust.
“And worse still, the culture of silence and fear among the management, the idea that supervisors were too afraid and unwilling to step in, that’s a systemic failure and real people are paying with their lives.”
He said that he had no indication that this type of attitude was held by members of An Garda Síochána.
However, he said he did know that some members were very frustrated because they were arresting people, charging them and then they are being “let go” by the courts.
Mr Leighio said: “It’s all across the board, it’s the justice system, the gardaí, the justice system, the DPP.
“There doesn’t seem to be a will there anymore for road safety. There are gardaí, good gardaí out there that are doing their job today.
“And I say they work hard and I say ‘thank you’ to them, but this is the moment where the silence and the good can’t just let the failures of the others go unchallenged. They have to speak up and demand better.
“The public and grieving families deserve nothing less.”