The Garda Siochana will immediately crack down on drink-driving following advice from the Attorney General that the introduction of random breath testing would be constitutional, and existing laws can be used effectively in the interim. Tim O'Brien and Liam Reid report
In the Dail yesterday, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said Rory Brady had concluded random breath testing was constitutional and therefore it would be introduced.
The legislation will allow for random breath testing to be carried out at certain times and in certain areas where the statistical likelihood of road fatalities is greater, such as on weekend nights.
The Irish Times understands that Mr Brady provided the advice yesterday following intensive discussions with the Department of Transport and the Department of the Taoiseach in recent days.
Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy told the Oireachtas Committee on Transport yesterday that Mr Brady had advised him existing powers could be used to set up random checkpoints at which motorists might be asked on "reasonable suspicion" to provide a breath sample.
In the past gardai have needed to show they "formed an opinion" that a driver had consumed excess alcohol before asking for a sample.
He said the Attorney General's advice included the clarification that "the gardai can establish a checkpoint in the vicinity of a licensed premises in order to identify persons who may be committing breaches of the law relating to driving while under the influence of alcohol".
He said the advice would lead to an immediate change in policing, with more checkpoints and a greater focus on pub car parks.
Mr Conroy also said 244 extra Traffic Corps gardai would be deployed this year, and an extra 30 penalty-point offences scheduled for introduction by April 1st.
He said the greatest difficulty with the problem of drunk-driving was not the absence of random breath testing but a lack of personal responsibility on the part of drivers and a varied interpretation of the law by the courts.
Where a garda had "formed the opinion and this was corroborated by the intoxiliser" it was often not enough for the court.
Individual gardai could be on the stand for two hours being questioned on how they came to form the opinion. This had contributed to just 67 per cent of cases being successfully prosecuted on average in 2005, he said, with the Dublin average as low as 48 per cent.
Mr Brady's advice was a "clear statement of the law of the land", and would allow gardai to go into courts with a "much greater level of confidence".
Mr Ahern said it was "regrettable" that it took Big Brother to help people look after themselves.
"But if that's the way it is, then the Government has to follow that with tough measures that will inconvenience the general public, not only those who break the law."
Last night a spokeswoman for Mr Ahern said "care has to be taken that the random element of this kind of breath testing is not exercised in an arbitrary or oppressive way. It has to be done within a legal framework, and it has to be done at times and in places where it is likely to result in improved road safety."
She rejected suggestions that the Government had previously ruled out random breath testing as being unconstitutional.
Details of the legislation will be announced today by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen.