Emergency law in pipeline in wake of drink-drive ruling

Emergency legislation is being prepared by the Department of Transport to address a High Court ruling that a breathtest statement is invalid if provided in English only.

Monday’s ruling has cast doubt over hundreds of drink-driving cases before the courts.

Mr Justice Seamus Noonan ruled the statement provided by a device which tests a driver’s breath for alcohol in a Garda station is not a valid piece of evidence if only provided in English. The Evidenzer Irl machine used in Garda stations only provides a reading in English.

Officials from the Department of Transport, which is responsible for drink-driving legislation, have reviewed the judgment with Attorney General Máire Whelan, the Garda and Medical Bureau of Road Safety.

‘Appropriate steps’

A spokeswoman for Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe said: “We are considering appropriate steps to remedy the situation and expect to make a statement on the matter on Tuesday.”

A solicitor specialising in road traffic cases said the ruling was likely to result in hundreds of drink-driving cases before the courts being deferred and warned it could undermine mandatory alcohol checkpoints. Evan O’Dwyer of O’Dwyer Solicitors in Co Mayo, said “effectively there can be no more alcohol checkpoints until this issue is resolved”.

This is because the Evidenzer Irl is the primary device used to confirm a positive alcohol reading after a suspect driver is identified at a roadside checkpoint.

In 2013, 4,991 of the total of 9,539 tests on a driver for alcohol were carried out on a driver’s breath using a station-based machine.

While blood or urine samples can be taken and tested, logistically this is far more difficult for gardaí as a doctor needs to be found within a specified time to take the sample.