Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I am informed by the Garda authorities that 13 prosecutions under section 49(4) of the Road Traffic Act 1961, as amended, were dismissed by the district judge sitting at Belmullet District Court on 9 November 2005. An application has been made, by way of case stated, to review the decisions of the district judge.

As the Deputy will appreciate, the courts are subject only to the Constitution and the law, and are independent in the exercise of their functions. These are matters entirely for the presiding judge and in the circumstances the House will understand that I am constrained from commenting on the conduct of a particular case. Without in any way commenting on the particular cases, where I have indicated a judicial review is pending, the House will be aware that it has been the practice for legislation relating to drink driving to be consistently challenged, often unsuccessfully, in the courts. The Government is committed to dealing effectively with the problem of drink driving and will continue to take whatever steps are necessary in this regard.

The Department of Transport and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform have been considering for some time an amendment of the Road Traffic Acts to provide that in some cases persons who are found to be over the limit will be the subject of a non-court procedure in which a prosecution will not be taken if they pay a fixed penalty, surrender their licence for endorsement and consent to an administrative disqualification. If the Department of Transport, which is responsible for policy in this area, proceeds with the proposal, the Garda Commissioner is of the view that very considerable savings in court time and Garda time will result.

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