The Minister for Justice is to ask the Garda Ombudsman to investigate allegations of corruption in the management of penalty points.

Alan Shatter says some members of the Public Accounts Committee have prejudged the issue - and have undermined its ability to investigate the claims.

The decision is an obvious attempt to avoid a face-off between the Garda Commissioner and the Public Accounts Committee, over which should investigate the claims made by the two Garda whistleblowers.

In a statement this evening he says some members of the Public Accounts Committee have prejudged any investigation into penalty points through some of their 'disturbing' comments in recent days.

He says he doesn't want to allow the PAC to become a platform for unsubstantiated claims about Gardaí - and says there's already question marks about the PAC's legal ability to investigate.

But he says the Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan doesn't want to be at loggerheads with the committee - and so he'll now ask the Garda Ombudsman to investigate the allegations being made by the whistleblowers.

He'll also ask the Ombudsman to investigate the way in which the allegations have been pursued - and whether the two whistleblowers have compromised the integrity of Garda records.

The Commissioner has this evening welcomed the decision, and stressed that the Gardai remain accountable to the Oireachtas and to the public.