Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment 52:

In page 39, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following: “(f) in section 13, by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) The Minister may provide by regulations for a deduction to be made from the concentration of alcohol in a specimen determined by the apparatus referred to in section 12 to allow a margin of error in the making of such a determination.”,”.

The Road Traffic Act 2010 provides legal alcohol limits for persons driving or in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle. Under section 12(1)(a) of the Road Traffic Act 2010, the Garda may in certain circumstances require a person under arrest to provide two specimens in the context of alcohol and drug testing. Section 13 of the Act provides for the "procedure following provision of a breath specimen under section 12". As is normal in much scientific equipment, a margin of error is applied in the measurements taken by these machines. This amendment stems from the advice of the Attorney General on foot of a recent court case. The decision has been taken to amend section 13 of the Road Traffic Act 2010 to enable the margin of error to be set out in regulations. This is the primary difference. The amendment will allow for the margin of error to be described, defined and amended as "degrees of variation".