John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 139: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason for the number of people here who continue to drink and drive as evidenced by the 418 arrests made over the bank holiday weekend in October 2006 in relation to suspected drink driving; the action which will be taken by the relevant authorities to combat this problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36338/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am informed by the Garda authorities that despite the high level of enforcement activity by An Garda Síochána, as evidenced by the number of arrests for drink driving over the October Bank Holiday week-end, there still exists a hardcore element in our society who persist in engaging in drink driving.

An Garda Síochána will continue this high level of enforcement activity, through the use of mandatory alcohol testing coupled with ongoing deployment of additional resources to the Garda Traffic Corps, in order to change driver behaviour and enforce compliance with road traffic legislation. An Garda Síochána continues to prioritise drink driving offences as one of the major causes of road traffic injuries and fatalities.

The Road Safety Authority, which is under the aegis of the Department of Transport and has responsibility in this area, is examining ways in which the level of compliance by motorists with the law and road safety can be increased and is preparing proposals in this regard for submission to the Minister for Transport.

Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act 2006 provides the legal basis for mandatory alcohol testing (MAT). It confers a statutory power to administer a roadside breath test to a motorist stopped at a checkpoint without a member of An Garda Síochána being required to form an opinion that the motorist has consumed alcohol, been involved in a collision or breached a provision of the Road Traffic Acts.

Developments since the introduction of mandatory alcohol testing in July have been encouraging. The number of road deaths in August was 17 — the lowest number for any month since November 1999. This trend continued in September, when the number of deaths was 23, compared with 31 in 2005 and in October when the number of deaths was 32 compared with 44 in 2005. Up to and including the 2 November, there were 315 deaths in 2006, 14 less than for the same period last year.

The current strength of the Garda Traffic Corps stands at 745, with an additional 60 members to be allocated during the remainder of 2006 and is well on target to achieve the target strength of 805 members at the end of 2006.