It is extremely rare for a drink-driving offence not to carry disqualification, writes CAROL COULTER, Legal Affairs Editor
MOST DRINK-DRIVING offences carry a period of disqualification from driving upon conviction, but the offence of failing or refusing to give a breath sample at the roadside does not.
Under the 1994 Road Traffic Act, failure or refusal to give a sample in a Garda station after a road traffic incident or in hospital (normally following an incident) is an offence carrying a mandatory disqualification from driving.
According to David Staunton BL, an expert in road traffic offences, this is not the case if a person is stopped at a roadside. According to the details of the charges to which Judge O’Donohue pleaded guilty, he was stopped in a public place at Ballyconneely, Clifden, Co Galway in charge of a vehicle and failed to provide a breath specimen to the garda concerned. This occurred in August last year, before the new drink-driving legislation came into effect last October.
Failing to provide a sample in the circumstances in which Judge O’Donohue was stopped does not carry automatic disqualification.
“In 99.9 per cent of cases the garda will arrest you under section 12 (4) of the 1994 Road Traffic Act if you refuse to provide a specimen, or if he forms the opinion you are under the influence of an intoxicant. This section permits the garda to make a requirement that the person attend in a Garda station and provide a sample,” said Staunton.
“Failing or refusing to do so in the Garda station constitutes an offence which carries mandatory disqualification.
“It is also open to any court under section 27 of the 1961 Act to make a disqualification from driving for any reason,” he said.
There have been changes to the drink-driving laws over the past two years. The 2010 Road Traffic Act reduced alcohol limits for all drivers and distinguished between experienced and new drivers. Penalties depend on the amount of alcohol detected in a person’s system, and from October 2011 not all drink-driving offences carry automatic disqualification.
Penalties on conviction for drink-driving will vary depending on the amount of alcohol detected in a person’s system. Under the penalties introduced by the Road Traffic Act 2006, all convictions meant mandatory disqualification. However, under the 2010 Act which came into operation in October last year, small amounts carried three penalty points and a fine, with disqualification arising when the amount of alcohol in a person’s breath exceeded 80mg.