Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I agree with most of what the Deputy said. I am interested in why she has criticised me so heavily for amplifying the powers that the Garda had for random breath testing before the Commissioner spoke last week. I said all of that before the committee, yet the Deputy laughed at me, claiming it was nonsense. The Attorney General has amplified the Garda powers and has made that perfectly clear. The missing piece was that members of the Garda do not have an ability to stop a line of traffic and without forming any opinion on whether someone has consumed alcohol or not, can request every driver to submit to a random breath test. Heretofore, I set out the conditions on how gardaí can administer a random breath test. The key condition that has caused a problem and had been challenged consistently in the courts is the opinion formed by the garda whether the person has consumed drink, which is either based on smelling alcohol off the person's breath——

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