Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

Section 29 provides that where a person is alleged to have committed a drink driving offence but the concentration of alcohol levels are within certain limits, that person will be served with a fixed penalty notice. Persons are only eligible to be served with a fixed penalty notice once in a specified time period. On Report Stage in the Dáil Deputy Shane McEntee proposed that under section 29(5), the period of eligibility should be reduced from five to three years and I was satisfied to accept the proposal once the House agreed to the amendment. A subsequent examination of the Bill indicated two related amendments were required to be made under section 29(6) and section 32(1)(a)(3) to make them consistent with the Dáil amendment. These amendments were agreed subsequently by the Seanad.

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