Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

While I appreciate the Deputy's intent and share his objectives, faced with the circumstances he outlines a Garda will have three options. First, if the driver cannot take a breath test because a garda forms the opinion that it would be prejudicial to the person's health to do so, the garda may wait for a period for the person to calm down before administering the breath test. Second, if the driver is seriously distressed, the garda can call an ambulance and the person will be brought to hospital where a blood or urine test can be taken under existing legislation. Third, if the garda suspects that the person is pretending to be distressed or is shamming, he or she can be arrested and brought to a Garda station where a blood or urine sample can be taken. The legislation covers all the circumstances outlined by the Deputy.

If I interpret Deputy Dooley's contribution correctly, he may be hinting that circumstances may arise in which a garda, for nefarious reasons, would choose not to arrest a person, bring a person to hospital or wait until such time as it becomes possible to carry out a breath test. The only circumstance in which the legislation could not be enforced is where a garda acts nefariously. One cannot legislate against such circumstances.

The Bill strengthens current legislation and should be viewed in the context of the body of legislation in place in this area. If it is not enacted this week and we delay enactment for a few weeks in the hope of finding a solution - I do not believe such a solution is possible - mandatory breath testing will not be in place in the coming weeks and people who should be tested will not be tested. This is a much worse scenario than that outlined by Deputy Dooley.

As the Deputy will be aware, bank holiday weekends are the worst periods for road traffic accidents. With the Easter and May bank holidays approaching, I want mandatory breath testing enforced immediately and do not want the legislation delayed for another few weeks or months as we seek to legislate for circumstances in which a garda does not do his or her duty. I am not aware of any legislation which successfully provides for circumstances in which someone does not do his or her duty. In the case of legislation covering the behaviour of politicians, for example, while one can introduce provisions on what donations should or should not be taken and how they should be registered, a nefarious or corrupt politician will simply ignore the law. If the lacuna the Deputy cited arises, it will not be closed by legislation. We need to ensure that were such a case to arise, the Garda authorities will be informed and will take action against any garda who is not doing his or her duty.

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