Mary White (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I remember speaking approximately two years ago on the previous Bill on the issue of mandatory testing. The PARC Road Safety Group submission to Senators called for an amendment to the Bill on mandatory testing at injury collision scenes. Research published in 2009 carried out by Dr. Declan Bedford showed that 92% of surviving drivers involved in fatal collisions on Irish roads evaded detection for alcohol. This was due to a failure of the Road Traffic Act to make testing mandatory in such circumstances. I remember calling at the time for testing to be mandatory.

The section of the Bill dealing with mandatory testing as a result of injury collisions, although much improved on the ambiguous laws we have had up to now, leaves much to be desired. The problem is one whereby a member of the Garda Síochána on arrival at the scene of a collision where there is an injury has a mandatory power to test but if a roadside breathalyser is not available at the scene and the garda or a colleague goes in search of one, on the garda's return the mandatory power is reduced to a discretionary one, which seems ridiculous. I am calling for an amendment to the Bill, to have the word "may" replaced by the word "shall", which is all that is required to retain the mandatory nature of the requirement to test, to read:

where the member of the Garda does not have such an apparatus with him or her, to remain at that place in his or her presence or in the presence of another member of the Garda Síochána until such an apparatus becomes available to him or her (for a period that does not exceed one hour) and the member shall then require the person to provide, by exhaling into the apparatus, a specimen of his or her breath in the manner indicated by the member.

I seek the Minister's support in this important matter, which is of grave concern to many people all over the country.