Legal challenges to the intoximeter, used to test breath for alcohol in those suspected of drink-driving, suffered another blow yesterday when the High 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. The way is now clear for many of them to proceed. A challenge to the holding of a person for 20 minutes before the use of the device was upheld by the Supreme Court in February.
In a reserved judgment Mr Justice Ó Caoimh rejected claims that Judge Brian Kirby prejudiced the right of the seven people to a fair trial by refusing to adjourn their trials to allow them carry out an inspection of the device in Dún Laoghaire Garda station, Co Dublin. All seven were convicted in the District Court and then took High Court proceedings.
The seven had been convicted despite an application by their solicitors for dismissal of the cases on the grounds that, because of the failure to allow inspection, they could not call evidence or test the prosecution evidence.
Counsel for the DPP had argued that there was an air of unreality about the applications to inspect. There was no evidence that an expert would have had a reasonable prospect of establishing how the machine worked over a year earlier, he said.
Mr Justice Ó Caoimh said the seven had failed to demonstrate that the refusal to adjourn their cases deprived them of a fair trial. No evidence had been brought to show what could have been decided by an inspection of the instrument one year after the instrument was used to decide the concentration of alcohol in the blood of each applicant.