Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 93: To ask the Minister for Transport when he will respond to the request from the Medical Bureau of Road Safety for increased funding and resources to allow for an expansion of its drug-testing programme; if he will bring forward a comprehensive policy on drug-testing of drivers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24268/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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With regard to drug testing of drivers, the Road Traffic Acts already provide 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.

There is no feasible basis yet in Ireland or in Europe for the introduction of a preliminary roadside test for drugs as testing devices are still in the prototype stages. However, my Department with the MBRS, is keeping abreast of developments in this area. The issue of funding and resources for the MBRS is under consideration in the context of the overall funding and resources for my Department and its non-commercial State agencies for 2008.