Ahern was alerted to concerns on speeding

The chief executive of the National Safety Council, Mr Pat Costello, alerted the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to Freedom of Information Act (FoI) requests for information relating to speeding ministerial cars, it has emerged.

The FoI requests, made to the safety council by media last January, ultimately revealed that the chairman of the council, Mr Eddie Shaw, had written to the Taoiseach expressing concern about the speed of ministerial cars, including the Taoiseach's own cavalcade.

However, before the council released the correspondence, Mr Costello wrote to the Taoiseach on January 23rd last, alerting him to the requests, referring "to the current media issue of ministerial cars speeding".

Mr Costello continued: "I would formally advise you that to date, I have received requests for the release of correspondence under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 1997." And he told Mr Ahern: "It is my intention to release this correspondence after compiling at an early date."

Asked yesterday if he considered it appropriate to warn the Taoiseach of the receipt of FoI requests, Mr Costello said he would not consider the letter to be a warning. "I was alerting him. It was not so much a warning."

He said he did not know if such an alert was required or disallowed under the FoI Act.

"We work closely with a number of Government departments and thought it would be a good thing to advise them on a courtesy basis," he concluded.

A spokesman for the Office of the Freedom of Information Commissioner said that while Mr Costello's action was "unusual", it did not break any rules.