Greens call on Government to introduce special legislation to quash all 14,700 wrongful convictions

The Green Party today called on the Government to introduce special legislation to quash the convictions of the 14,700 people who were wrongly convicted on the back of Garda errors in issuing fixed charge notices.

The legislation, which would detail all affected cases in the schedule of the bill, could allow for the rescinding of all those convictions without individual cases having to be dealt with through the courts.

Speaking today, Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan TD said: “We’re calling for the Government to introduce legislation, as soon as they can, to quash the wrongful convictions of all 14,700 drivers affected by Garda errors in issuing fixed charge notices. It would simplify what could be a long, complicated route through the courts for those affected by the errors.

“Issues like returning fines paid on those wrongful convictions could also be dealt with through a separate process to avoid clogging up the court system. What we don’t want is for those who suffered at the hands of these errors to undergo further stress by being faced with going to court to clear their convictions. The Government should quash them all in a single piece of legislation instead.”