Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make three points in response to the Deputy's questions. The first is that under our legal arrangements and constitutional order, it is a matter for the courts to make a disqualification order preventing a person from validly holding a driver's licence for a period of time. The second point concerns the number of people currently disqualified on the existing statutory basis. Some 12,248 people were disqualified as drivers on 29 September 2014 under the various legislative provisions available to us, from the Road Traffic Act 1961 to the recent Road Traffic Act 2010.

On the presence of drugs and the influence they can have, particularly where combined with alcohol, it is my intention to address this specific issue in the forthcoming road traffic Bill. From my meetings with the Road Safety Authority and organisations involved in measuring the substances contained in drivers' systems at the time of accidents, I have come to believe this is a very important issue that we must address legislatively.

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