Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The context is the Minister's reply to a parliamentary question, which states:

The Road Traffic Acts provide that a member of the Garda Síochána may require a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle to provide a preliminary breath specimen . . . Garda discretion in relation to the use of preliminary roadside tests in such circumstances is necessary, having regard to possible injuries sustained, and I do not propose to alter that position.

The U-turn is an important one, but it is more important that the people can now look forward to a change in legislation and to more safety on our roads, where drivers involved in accidents in which people are injured will be breathalysed.

We should look again at the number of deaths because the figures have begun to rise in the past two months. The most important point of all is that drink driving is common place in our country with over 350 cases per week reported by the Garda during the period 24 September to 7 October last. From July 2006 to July last, 19,391 people were arrested for drink driving. We are not doing enough but this will help.

When people are convicted in the District Courts after challenging their mandatory penalty points, a serious issue arises where they do not bring their licences with them. The sanction of the court is not imposed because in some cases licences are not marked. When I tabled a question to the Minister today to find out the number of people who received penalty points from the courts and the number of driving licences which were not produced as a result, the question was disallowed. We need big changes and they are on their way.

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