With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 39 and 40 together.
Statistics relating to charges of convictions for drunken driving are contained in the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of an Garda Síochána on Crime, copies of which are available in the Library. The report for 1976 is expected to be published very shortly.
The decision to suspend prosecutions under section 49 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, as amended by section 29 of the Road Traffic Act, 1968, was not taken by me but by the Director of Public Prosecutions whose decision was made on legal grounds. Any question of an amendment of the law in the matter is primarily one for the Minister for the Environment.
The Garda authorities have informed me that, while it is difficult to predict what effect the suspension of blood alcohol content tests will have, the force has been directed, as an interim measure, to deal with all drunken driving cases under section 49 of the 1961 Act as it stood before amendment.