Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Up to now, apprehension and detention by the gardaí has been dealt with through the common law. The common law is a very vague animal and the public cannot really point to any section in an Act and state that is where the power comes from. It is beneficial, therefore, to have it on a statutory basis to protect the gardaí and the individuals concerned so that there is a legal basis upon which the gardaí detain people. From my assessment of it, to date it has been dealt with responsibly by the gardaí. Unfortunately, people get extremely drunk. They can be a danger to themselves and to others. It would be interesting if we did an assessment of the convictions before our courts to see the correlation between convictions and people who have a lot of drink taken. It is extraordinarily high. It is worthwhile putting this on a statutory basis.

In terms of the definition, I note that subsection (4) states: "In this section ‘intoxication’ has the same meaning as it has in section 4.”. I think that should be "intoxicated" as opposed to "intoxication".

On the reason for the six hours, that is based on an assessment as to how long it takes to sober up or for somebody to ensure they are no longer a danger to themselves but we cannot ignore the fact that there are circumstances where people are extremely drunk, they have not committed any criminal offence but there is a serious prospect that if they are allowed to continue as they are they will damage themselves or someone else.