(Cavan) asked the Minister for Justice (a) whether the breathalyser is being operated by the Garda under the Road Traffic Act; (b) the number of cases it has been used in since 1st January, 1970, to the latest available date; (c) the number of cases of drunken driving which have come before the district courts in the same period; (d) whether terms have been agreed between him and the medical profession on the matter; and (e) if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Breathalyser Tests.
83.
The statistics sought in the question are not recorded at Garda Headquarters and could not be assembled in the time available. However, it may be taken that the number of breathalyser tests since 1st January last has been very small.
As regards the question whether terms have been agreed in the matter the position is that informal agreement was reached a considerable time ago about the fees for the breathalyser tests but the representatives of the two medical organisations concerned were not prepared to recommend to their members that they should resume the tests until agreement had also been reached on other, separate, issues that were being negotiated between them and my Department. However, while I can speak authoritatively only for my own Department, I think that I can safely say it is the view of all concerned in the negotiations that there has been a definite advance towards a settlement of all outstanding matters and the prospects are now very promising. I believe also that I am correctly interpreting the attitude of the two medical organisations, as well as my own, when I say that the prospects of an early settlement of the outstanding matters would not be improved by any public comment by either side on the matters still at issue at this stage.
(Cavan): Would I be summarising the Minister's reply fairly if I said that, in effect, this section of the Road Traffic Act which has been in force—I do not know the exact dates—for a couple of years or very near it is not being operated at all, that is, the breathalyser provision?
What I said was that since 1st January last, as a result of the action of two medical associations, the giving of these breathalyser tests has been very limited and confined to a small number of areas. Of course, I do not want the Deputy or the public to get the impression that the law against drunken driving is not being enforced. The ordinary drunken driving law is being enforced and all doctors are co-operating in the ordinary way with regard to it.
(Cavan): Would the Minister not agree with me that the introduction of a system such as the breathalyser system by the Government by way of an Act of Parliament and then a complete failure or inability to operate it is calculated to bring the law into disrepute?
That would not be difficult.
(Cavan): Would the Minister not think it is his duty to do something about it?
As I pointed out in my original reply, I do not think it is in the general interests of the settling of this dispute to go into the merits or demerits or details of it. What I tried to convey to the Deputy was that agreement was reached with regard to fees for the breathalyser tests at a very early stage, but an entirely separate matter that had nothing whatever to do with breathalysers or the enforcement of law is still in issue between the two medical associations concerned and my Department. It has now boiled down to quite a small net point which I am very hopeful will be resolved at an early stage. Pending the resolution of this completely separate matter, unfortunately the majority of doctors in the country are not operating the breathalyser test.
(Cavan): I agree with the Minister that the merits and demerits may not be relevant but the serious thing is that this part of the law has broken down completely.
For reasons——
(Cavan): It does not matter what the reasons are.
——for which I or my predecessor or the Department cannot be faulted because what caused it to break down has something to do with a completely separate matter.