Compulsory breath testing of all drivers involved in serious road accidents is to be introduced early next year, the Cabinet decided yesterday.
Fine Gael described the decision as a "humiliating climbdown" in the light of the Government's previous refusal to adopt the measure.
The announcement came just hours before the Dáil was due to debate a Fine Gael motion calling on the Government to adopt compulsory testing for drivers involved in accidents. The party's Environment spokesman, Fergus O'Dowd, said the change had been brought about by Fine Gael pressure.
The measure is one of the key recommendations in the new Road Safety Strategy due to be published shortly. Currently, gardaí are under instruction to breathalyse drivers at crash scenes and retain discretion in the case of a serious injury.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the Government was now putting that instruction on a statutory footing, but he warned that introducing the change would be difficult as priority had to be given to the medical care of a critically injured driver.
"If there is a very serious accident, we have to devise some way that the gardaí can have discretion, that they are not saying to ambulance people, 'No hold on a second, I have to get a sample'," Mr Dempsey said.
It is understood the amendment to the Road Traffic Act 2006 - which provided for the introduction of random breathtesting - will require primary legislation and will take approximately six months to become law. The new Road Safety Strategy is due to be published within two weeks.
Fine Gael maintained that the move represents a change in the Government's position as Mr Dempsey told a Dáil debate on the issue in July: "Garda discretion relating to the use of the preliminary roadside test in such circumstances is necessary . . . I do not propose to alter that provision."
After the Government's announcement, Mr O'Dowd said: "The Government's humiliating U-turn is a victory for the bereaved families and campaigners who have tried to get Fianna Fáil to keep its word on mandatory alcohol testing at accident scenes."
He called on the Government parties to accept his party's proposal that the new legislation for mandatory alcohol tests should be introduced within a strict time limit of three months, because the Government has already broken this promise on several occasions.
Road safety groups who have long called for the discretion given to gardaí at crash sites to be replaced by a mandatory test have welcomed the move.
However, the founder of one of those groups, Public Against Road Carnage (Parc), Susan Gray, said she disagreed with any discretion being left to gardaí at crash sites.
"Where a person is seriously injured, of course we expect medical treatment to be a priority. But that should not preclude testing for alcohol unless it would endanger the person's life," Ms Gray said.
"And only a senior doctor is qualified to make that decision, not a Garda," she told The Irish Timeslast night.
The Taoiseach wrote to Parc before the last election pledging to introduce compulsory testing at crash sites if Fianna Fáil returned to Government.