Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Impairment tests in road traffic cases are tests such as walking in a straight line or touching one's nose which can be used to indicate if a person is under the influence of an intoxicant. If a person refuses or fails to take an impairment test, the intention of the law is that gardaí will have the option of conducting a preliminary oral fluid test for drugs and also the option of taking a specimen of blood for evidential tests for the presence of intoxicants. The Irish Times, which the Chairman referred to, published an article on Monday, which said that due to a drafting error in the legislation, gardaí could not take the oral fluid specimen or a specimen of blood in these cases. This is true but it is not exactly news. It has been in the ether for a long time.

Impairment tests were introduced in 2014 based on section 11 of the Road Traffic Act 2010, which was amended in 2014. In 2016, section 11 was once again amended. This had the effect of changing the subsection numbers within section 11. As a result some cross-references to this section were no longer accurate and had to be changed, a fact which came to our attention in 2017. One area where this impact was felt was in regulations relating to impairment tests. I rectified this by revising the regulations in August 2017. The other area of impact was that referred to in the article. Cross-references in sections 13A and 13B of the Road Traffic Act 2010 now refer to the wrong subsections of section 11. Rectifying this means amending those cross-references, which requires a legislative amendment by the Oireachtas. I included amendments to make these corrections in the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2017. The passage of the Bill was excessively delayed but has now passed the Dáil and I hope to see it pass the Seanad next week.

Prompted by the coverage of this issue, we will further examine the matter to see if all issues have now been addressed and if there is more that needs to be done, we will do it as soon as possible. In the meantime, this error is not fatal. People who refuse or fail to take an impairment test can be prosecuted for that. The penalty is a fine of up to €5,000 and-or up to six months in prison. It is the same penalty as that for intoxicated driving. There is, in other words, a flaw to be corrected but no one is getting away with anything as a result. In other words, it is being addressed in legislation.