The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, is to amend the Road Traffic Bill before the Dáil, and introduce a second Bill in a bid to tackle road safety.
The Minister will reintroduce provision for random breath-testing which was earlier this year taken out because of fears it would delay the Bill's passage into the Road Traffic Bill.
As the Road Traffic Bill was not enacted before the summer recess, and in answer to the number of road fatalities, the Minister has decided the random testing provision might now be inserted.
Sources close to the Minister said there was also a possibility that the Bill may be referred by the President to the Supreme Court because of the inclusion of random testing.
However, the source indicated that as most breath-testing measures are challenged in the courts, a test of the provision by the Supreme Court at this stage might not be unwelcome.
Mr Brennan is also poised to introduce a second Bill to regulate driver testing and standards. This will also incorporate provisional licence reform, encompassing a "curriculum" which drivers must study before sitting the driving test.
The curriculum is to be introduced in a bid to reduce the failure rate of up to 45 per cent of about 180,000 tests which are undertaken each year.
The Driver Testing and Standards Authority Bill also contains measures to regulate and register driving instructors, as well as allowing gardaí to "outsource" the provision of fixed cameras.
Currently there are just three speed cameras in operation in the Dublin area.
The Minister has been anxious to proceed with legislative reform, but requires the support of the Minister for Justice and the Garda on issues such as a dedicated Garda traffic corps and increased levels of enforcement.
While the target levels for detection of speeding and drink- driving in the as yet unpublished new road safety strategy are high, sources indicated they will require an unprecedented Garda presence on the streets.
Mr Brennan has also called a meeting of road safety agencies in response to the high levels of people who are losing their lives in single-vehicle accidents, typically in the early hours of the morning at weekends.
The Medical Bureau of Road safety has also been recently asked to study such deaths.
