Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I have further considered bringing forward amendments to section 5 in light of Senator Paddy Burke's comments on Committee Stage. My amendment No. 8 should address the Senator's concern.

The issue here is that where a person is alleged to have committed an offence of driving, or being in charge of a vehicle, when the concentration of alcohol present in his or her body exceeded 100 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, or the equivalent in other specimens, that person is eligible to avail of the fixed charge and disqualification notice process introduced in the Bill, unless he or she has been convicted of a drink-driving related offence within the five years prior to the date of the alleged offence.

If a person is ineligible to avail of this process, namely, having had a conviction for a drink-driving related offence within the previous five years, and knows, or should in the circumstances have known, that he or she is ineligible but yet pays or attempts to pay a fixed charge, he or she is guilty of an offence.

I propose a form of wording that should meet Senator Paddy Burke's concern, to the effect that the section will read "a person who is ineligible under subsection (2) or (3) to pay a fixed charge and who knows or should in the circumstances have reasonably known that he or she is so ineligible".