Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 214: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on whether it is fair that the holder of a professional driver's licence who has not been using his or her vehicle in a professional capacity for a number of years is subject to the lower blood alcohol content limit of 20 mg. [6976/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Section 3(1) of the Road Traffic Act 2010 (as amended) provides for the definition of 'specified person' within the context of the Act. The definition of a specified person includes those drivers who hold licences to drive vehicles in the categories C, C1, D, D1, EB, EC, EC1, ED, ED1 and W. These types of vehicles are usually associated with people who are required to drive on a professional basis. A driver with such a licence, who is driving or attempting to drive a vehicle that falls into these specified categories, will be tested at the lower BAC limit of 20 milligrammes.

In addition, Section 3(1) also defines someone as a specified person if they hold a licence to drive a small public service vehicle granted under section 34 of the Taxi Regulation Act 2003 or section 82 of the Road Traffic Act 1961. A person who holds such a licence and is driving or attempting to drive such a vehicle in the course of his or her business will also be tested at the BAC limit of 20 milligrammes.

Section 3(2) provides that such licence holders will be treated as specified drivers unless they can show to the contrary that they were not driving a vehicle from the categories specified above or, in the case of small PSVs, that the vehicle was not being used for business purposes at the time of the alleged offence.

I believe these provisions are fair and appropriate and I have no plans to change them.