Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

We will have an opportunity to talk about mandatory testing as the Bill goes through the House. As Deputies will be aware, this has been in gestation for some time but it was not only this issue that delayed the publication of the Bill. We had to try to get this right and strike a balance between the need to do mandatory alcohol testing at the scene of an accident and the need to ensure we would not cause death or serious injury by delaying getting a person to hospital. So far nobody has come up with a better suggestion that is workable. We can come up with all sorts of suggestions but they may not be workable, feasible, constitutionally possible or whatever. If somebody comes up with a better idea which is constitutionally and legally feasible, I will certainly consider that. Currently, this is as far as we can go in this regard.

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