Thousands of drink driving prosecutions may fail before the courts because of unjustified administrative guidelines issued by the Garda Síochána. The guidelines directed members of the force to wait for twenty minutes before taking breath samples from suspected individuals in Garda stations. But the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the guidelines had no basis in law and that the 20-minute period in which a suspect was held amounted to unlawful detention. The appealed conviction was declared to be invalid.
The only official reaction said the State's legal officers were studying the text of the Supreme Court judgment. Such a response is clearly inadequate. After all, a Circuit Court judge had ruled on an earlier occasion that the guidelines lacked legal authority. The case was then appealed to the Supreme Court. In neither of those hearings was objective, technical evidence presented by the State or by the Garda Síochána to justify the 20 minute detention period.
It has been suggested that the manufacturers of the breathalyser machine used by the Garda recommended a wait of 20 minutes before the test was administered. If that was so, then technical evidence from the company to justify a delay should have been produced. If such a delay was not required, then the contested Garda guidelines should have been modified to ensure they did not jeopardise other cases.
Drink driving is a serious social and criminal offence. It should not become part of a legal game. The Garda Síochána recommended guidelines to its members which were challenged by a clever lawyer and struck down on a technicality. And while the Supreme Court has sought to confine its judgment to this particular case, the ruling is almost certain to have broad, knock-on effects. To avoid that, technical experts would have to be produced to justify the guidelines in all other prosecutions at enormous expense.
Last month, the head of the Garda National Traffic Policy Bureau, Chief Supt Denis Fitzpatrick,said no real change had taken place in the motoring public's attitude towards drink driving. He noted that 95 per cent of the 1,261 motorists arrested in a special Christmas campaign had exceeded the permitted alcohol limit. It was an appalling finding. The situation has worsened in light of this Supreme Court ruling. For many of the 1,200 motorists with drink taken who were detected by the Garda in that expensive campaign may escape punishment on a technicality.
Earlier this year, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, promised to rethink drink driving laws. Thousands of such cases are now on hold. After this judgment, dealing with just one of the many outstanding challenges to these laws, that commitment takes on added urgency.