Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the bus companies for the presentations. Mr. Donohue suggested it was a good thing that we have legislation in place but I believe there is a concern. A number of groups have appeared before the committee expressing a concern about the major emphasis being put on employers in terms of their responsibilities. Let us consider the case of a family businesses that runs haulage. It may have one, two or three people involved. That could be a tricky situation.

I assume the practice in the past was that if someone was identified as being intoxicated or was falling or seemed to be behaving in a certain way, then the person would be requested to have a test. Have there been many incidents whereby people have been forced or asked to be tested as a result of an observation from a manager or someone else? There is an issue of citizens' rights as well. If we put in place legislation and we are dealing with people, we need to be mindful that we cannot impose things constantly and force employers to do this. Is the proposed legislation as close as one could get to international best practice? I am keen to hear the position of the bus companies in that regard.

I believe a code of practice is important, but I am concerned in case every time a person came in he was asked to do a test without any reason. Something should have to trigger the call for that test in the first place. I have a problem in the way this is being proposed at the moment. It looks to me as though a major emphasis is being put on employers. We have seen many cases where it is tricky to make a judgment. If a person is taking drugs one may not see it as much as if someone had taken a great deal of alcohol and is falling about the place. In the case of someone who has taken drugs, one may not really know. Are we considering putting in place a practice whereby once a month or once every six months a random test is carried out on employees? I am keen to get a feel for the way the bus companies see this going.