Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 284: To ask the Minister for Transport the number of people who have been tested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs each year since 2005 to date in 2008; the level of funding that has been assigned to the Medical Bureau of Road Safety each year since 2002 to date in 2008; if he has reviewed roadside drug testing programmes that currently or will shortly operate in the Australian states of Queensland, Tasmania or Victoria; if he has received submissions from Irish based companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29069/08]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The number of specimens tested for the presence of a drug or drugs by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety for the years 2005 to 2006 is as follows:

Details in respect of 2007 and 2008 are not available at this time.

The level of funding that has been assigned to the Medical Bureau of Road Safety each year since 2002 to date in 2008 is as follows:

The increase in capital allocation, during the years 2005-2007 inclusive, was in respect of the Bureau's vacation of its premises at UCD, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin and its move to newly built premises at UCD Campus, Belfield in the latter part of 2007.

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 as 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, the MBRS is keeping abreast of developments in this area and is keeping me informed on the matter.

I have not received submissions from Irish based companies on this issue; I would refer any such submissions to the MBRS for advice.