Healy-Rae: Drink-driving Bill figures cannot be trusted

Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae has claimed figures presented to support new legislation to automatically disqualify drink-drivers cannot be trusted in the wake of An Garda Síochána’s inflation of roadside breath tests.

Mr Healy-Rae called in the Dáil for the Government to withdraw the proposed legislation following revelations that almost one million breath tests recorded by gardaí never happened.

Proposed heads of a Bill aim to increase the penalty for drivers caught with a blood alcohol concentration of between 50mg and 80mg per 100ml, from three penalty points and a €250 fine if it is a first offence, to an automatic ban on driving.

‘Mayhem’

“How can we trust the figures the Minister presented in support of the Bill in light of the revelations of recent days? I am asking the Government to withdraw the Bill in view of the mayhem we have seen in recent days,” Mr Healy-Rae said.

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Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe stressed, however, that the Government has no plans to withdraw the legislation.

He said the issue about the use of breathalysers related to the number of incidents recorded.

“However, the evidence produced by the use of those breathalysers in tests was still used to deal with dangerous driving on our roads to make our roads safer.”