Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

Section 8 contains a number of technical amendments to the Road Traffic Act 2010. This amendment relates to section 12 of the 2010 Act, which deals with the obligations on drivers to provide breath, blood or urine specimens following arrest at a Garda station. The amendment extends the provision so that a driver, following arrest, can be required to provide a specimen at a hospital if a position arises where a driver must be transferred to hospital before the requirement to provide a specimen can be made of him or her at the Garda station.

This arises from a loophole arising in recent months. Essentially, if somebody has been arrested, the sample can only be taken at a Garda station and not at a hospital. As it stands, if a person is involved in a collision the sample can be taken at a hospital or Garda station but if a person is arrested, the sample can only be taken at a Garda station. A person who has been arrested may claim to be having a heart attack, stroke or some kind of health event before being taken to hospital. Currently, that person could not have a sample taken so this will correct the anomaly.