A GARDA investigation is being carried out to determine how urine samples, obtained from two men arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, were damaged prior to arrival at a forensic science laboratory in Dublin.
The samples were sent separately from a Co Galway Garda station to the Medical Bureau of Road Safety's department of forensic medicine in Earlsfort Terrace.
The samples related to separate cases in which two men were arrested on suspicion of driving while drunk in February and March of this year and taken to the same Garda station.
Both men provided urine samples in the presence of a doctor which were subsequently sent to Dublin by registered post for analysis to determine their alcohol content in accordance with regulations.
One sample arrived with a broken seal while the second sample had been spilled. As a result they could not be analysed at the department.
Because the samples had been sent from the same Garda station within such a short space of time an investigation was ordered by the Galway West Division of the Garda. An investigating officer from outside the division was appointed to deal with the matter. A report is expected within a month.
Chief Supt Tom Monaghan said that when samples of this nature were found to be damaged, an investigation was held as a matter of form. He said it was unusual that two samples coming from the same Garda station could be damaged in such circumstances but added they might have been damaged accidentally.
One of the two men arrested has since been convicted of drunk driving at the local District Court under a law which did not require analysis of the sample taken. The other man is due before the court shortly.
No garda has been suspended or disciplined as a result of the investigation, Chief Supt Monaghan said. The investigating officer is interviewing people, including gardai and members of the public, who may have had a connection with the cases from the time of the arrests to the time the samples arrived in Dublin.
He hopes to have the report within a matter of weeks when he will decide what action, if any, will be taken.
"The investigation has been going on for the past few months and is a matter of routine in a situation like this. The details of what happened should become clear when I receive the findings of the report."