Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not repeat what has been said.

I welcome the visible presence of gardaí on our roads over the weekend. When people complain about the number of gardaí on the roads, it is a sign they are doing a good job.

The assistant commissioner referred to an area in which I worked in a previous life. He is correct that alcohol testing is one of the easiest analytical tests that can be administered but testing for drugs requires attention to a range of substances, from benzodiazepine to carboxylic acids. The substances involved can be prescribed or non-prescribed medications, as well as natural and homeopathic remedies. For example, a woman in my constituency is taking morphine through a patch on her shoulder. She would fail a drug test for opiates but she would not fail if a test which set a threshold of X milligrammes of opiates per litre of blood. However, she would be taken to the Garda station for the latter test to be administered, with the result that a suspicion of guilt would hang over her. The same could be said in respect of Xanax, a benzodiazepine prescribed for depression.

I acknowledge that the medical bureau will help to design a testing system but inevitably the people who hang around on the northside of the Liffey in the Four Courts will be four or five steps ahead of us in terms of finding holes in the law. If we introduce a system of roadside analytical testing which subsequently requires people to be brought to Garda stations for blood samples, the results would have to be analysed through chromatography and it would take at least a couple of days to get the results. I have no difficulty with the principle of taking a menace from our roads but a cohort of people might be sitting at home under a cloud of potential guilt for driving under the influence of a prescribed drug or a homeopathic treatment.

The assistant commissioner will know better than me the challenges faced by gardaí in enforcing the law. Similar issues arose recently when a database purchased in good faith to detect vehicles being driven without insurance had to be withdrawn. I agree with the principle of drug testing but if we are the first jurisdiction in Europe to introduce this system, I hope our courts will not be clogged by people who are as guilty as those who evaded a conviction by arguing that they did not receive the penalty point notice. People are avoiding convictions by telling barefaced lies in courts all over the country. I am concerned that people will avoid convictions under the proposed drug testing system due to inadequate technology. I would prefer the testing to be introduced on a pilot basis. It is easy to test for alcohol because it shows up in breath tests but tests for drugs would need to be able to detect a wide range of substances.

Have analytical chemists, who work at the coal-face on these issues, been consulted on the legislation? The chemist who could show me a kit that tested for everything would be a multi-billionaire.