Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

Does the Minister agree that drink-driving is a scourge of this country? Last weekend there were ten fatalities on the roads. Does he agree the operation of the intoxilyser has been a comedy of errors since it was introduced? There have been thousands, if not tens of thousands, of drink-driving charges that have had to be thrown out of the courts because there was no paper trail, something about which we know from electronic voting. In the case of drink-driving, the problem is the agencies of the State, including the gardaí, would not provide the relevant technical data so they could be examined. Arising from that the judge decided to dismiss 13 cases. The State should be obliged to make available relevant material that a judge deems appropriate in her court. It did not do that.

I am not asking about something that may be introduced some time in the future but about what we have now and why the gardaí, for whom the Minister is responsible, did not carry out their duty properly. Has the Minister examined this? How will he address it in future so we do not have a situation where people can constantly challenge cases while the gardaí do not fulfil their role?

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