Gardaí are to be given new powers to breathalyse motorists as part of the Christmas anti-drink driving campaign, writes Michael McAleer, Motoring Editor.
The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, told The Irish Times yesterday that he is to sign regulations to allow gardaí to demand a breath test from motorists whom they suspect of committing a number of road traffic offences, such as double parking or driving a vehicle with a faulty indicator.
Mr Brennan said the regulations, promised on several occasions by the Government, would be signed into law in the coming weeks.
He will launch this year's National Safety Council anti-drink driving campaign tomorrow.
At present, a garda must form a legal view that a motorist is over the legal alcohol limit before being able to demand a breath sample. This legal view then has to be proven in court, which has previously been open to legal challenge.
Although gardaí will not be able to set up checkpoints for random breath-testing yet, the new regulations will allow them to demand a breath test from any motorist they believe may have committed an offence under the wide-ranging Road Traffic Acts.
Mr Brennan said he had intended to sign the regulation into law months ago, but ran into legal problems which had now been cleared up. It remains his intention to introduce more general random testing in the Road Traffic Bill, due to come before the Dáil early next year.
"This Bill will grant gardaí the right to carry out random testing. However, there are legal issues surrounding it that have yet to be resolved."
The Minister said he had no immediate plans to reduce the drink-drive blood alcohol limit to 50 mg from 80 mg. The 50 mg limit is standard in most EU states.
Mr Brennan said: "I'm told by all the authorities that most offenders caught drink-driving are well over the legal limit. The numbers caught between 50 mg and 80 mg are minuscule, so it's not as urgent as random testing, but we will eventually bring it into line with the rest of Europe."
Ireland, Britain, Italy and Luxembourg are the only countries in the EU where the drink-driving limit is still at 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, and Luxembourg will shortly move to a 50mg limit.
Figures from the National Safety Council claim that about 230 drivers are arrested each week on suspicion of drink-driving and, while 91 per cent were over the limit, 51 per cent were more than twice the legal limit.
The new breath-testing powers will be backed up by a High Court decision earlier this month to dismiss a legal challenge to the intoximeter, used to test breath for alcohol. The court dismissed a claim from seven people that they should have been able to inspect it.
Up to 2,000 drink-driving cases are in the District Court system awaiting the outcome of legal challenges to the intoximeter.