Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

Amendment No. 27 proposes that section 106 of the principal Act be amended so that where a member of the Garda Síochána is present at the scene of a collision where death or serious injury has occurred, he or she shall require the driver to provide a breath sample to establish the presence of alcohol. The driver may accompany a garda or another member of the Garda Síochána to a place, including a vehicle,to provide a blood or urine specimen for examination for the presence of drugs or alcohol. In the first instance, section 106 of the principal Act relates to the offence of leaving the scene of a collision or a hit and run. There would be little point in applying this amendment to hit and run cases because there is no driver to test.

There is no roadside test available for drugs, a matter about which all countries are exercised. Some nine systems have been tested recently and all have failed. There is no available method for taking a test. When such a test is put in place, many of the matters raised in other areas will come to the fore again. Significant research is being pursued by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, which is involved in the international forum that deals with the issue. Should a garda form the opinion that drugs have been consumed, he or she can use section 14 of the 1994 Road Traffic Act to require the person to accompany him or her to a station to take a blood or urine sample.

Amendment No. 29 proposes that a member of the Garda Síochána can request a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle to accompany him or her to a station if the garda is of the opinion that the person is under the influence of drugs and has been involved in a road traffic accident. A roadside breath sample can be requested to indicate the presence of alcohol from any driver involved in a collision. My difficulty with this amendment is that the detection of a driver under the influence must, until a robust method for preliminary drug testing is found, be based on the determination by a garda on the incapacity of the driver to control the vehicle. Certainty was brought to mandatory alcohol testing and I do not want these amendments to allow any opportunity for people to challenge measures in this. I appreciate the Deputy's intent but we must keep the legislation as tight as possible.

Amendment No. 30 proposes to introduce mandatory testing for substances other than alcohol. Given that the amendment proposes a link to the mandatory alcohol test system proposed in section 4, I presume it refers to drugs. A system for testing for the presence of drugs is not available. Once that system is in place, we will have to define procedures in legislation and I cannot stab at these in the dark.

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