Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate where the Minister is coming from. I served on the southern regional drugs task force in recent years. Cocaine, cannabis and other inhibitors are very prevalent in the south-west region. What the Minister is suggesting will create mayhem for gardaí in Garda stations. Gardaí will know if people have taken drugs but will not necessarily know what drug they have taken so they will have to bring them all into the station. There will be queues of people at Garda stations waiting to be tested for drugs because the list is phenomenally long.

In the context of modern methods of testing for drink driving, the person who has had three pints of Guinness is worse off than someone who has taken drugs. There are some drugs that one is allowed to take and then to drive. In terms of a test for safe limits of alcohol, the Minister is saying that those who drink three pints are safer drivers than those who have had three drops of whiskey. A person can be prosecuted for taking cannabis, heroin and some other substances but there are other drugs being taken for social purposes which will be excluded. The Minister must revisit the list.