Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 279: To ask the Minister for Transport if he intends to introduce legislation to permit random testing for drug use by car drivers. [15291/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Road Traffic Act 1994 provides that a member of the Garda Síochána may, where he or she is of the opinion that a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place is under the influence of a drug or drugs to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of that vehicle, require that person to go to a Garda station and further require that person to submit to a blood test or to provide a urine sample which will then be subject to analysis by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety.

In regard to roadside testing, the Medical Bureau of Road Safety is aware that screening devices based on oral fluid specimens are being developed for the purpose of carrying out roadside drug testing. Such testing devices are in prototype stages and the MBRS is keeping abreast of developments in this area. There is therefore no feasible basis for the introduction of a scheme of preliminary roadside testing for drugs at this stage.