Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I now turn to the event raised by Deputy Mattie McGrath. Last Thursday, the Deputy used the privilege of this House to ask questions about an occasion when I stopped at a Garda checkpoint in early 2011, shortly prior to my appointment to Cabinet. I was involved in no such event at that time. He alleged this involved an offence under the Road Traffic 2010. The relevant provisions of that Act did not become operative until a ministerial Order was made on 27 October 2011, seven months after my appointment.

Despite these inaccuracies, I detailed in a statement last Thursday afternoon the facts of an event that occurred long before I became a Minister. The extent to which this matter grew legs and has been the subject of media comment and analysis has been extraordinary. Together with other motorists, I stopped at a Garda checkpoint, queued until reached and had my tax and insurance checked. I co-operated with a request to exhale into a breathalyser, attempted to do so but did not exhale sufficiently due to my suffering from asthma. I informed the Garda that I was on my way home from the Dáil where I had been working all evening, had consumed no alcohol and that I suffered from asthma. I was subsequently waved on.

All of the commentary to date, whether it has come from my political opponents, appeared in articles, or in the context of broadcasters interviewing other broadcasters or journalists, has studiously avoided mentioning that, under the then relevant legislation, the Road Traffic Act 2006, which Deputy Mattie McGrath reverted to referring to on RTE's "Morning Ireland" on Friday last, there is an express provision which states that where an individual has "a reasonable excuse" for not completing a breathalyser, no offence is committed. This provision is replicated in the 2010 Act.

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