Gardaí are to step up their crackdown on drink-driving with more roadblocks, the Dáil was told.
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said he had discussed the matter with Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and senior gardaí. "It was the correct thing to do and clarified a great many issues. I expect, as does the Minister for Justice as well, that there will be a clearly enhanced number of road checks in evidence to every commuter and motorist throughout the country as a result of the current situation."
He was replying to Labour spokeswoman Róisín Shortall, who claimed that no clear direction had gone out from the Garda to enforce the existing law.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern denied there was any confusion about the Government's plans to introduce legislation paving the way for random breath testing. He said that legal concerns had been raised regarding the possibility of the introduction of a scheme of full random breath testing on an open-ended basis without any restrictions as to its operation.
Fine Gael's Bernard Allen suggested that the situation was still confused. Denying this, Mr Ahern said that to have full random breath testing, allowing the State to deal with what came up in the courts, would require legislation.
"The Attorney General's scheme will deal with this. Currently, gardaí can have road checks. There is nothing wrong with that under the law. If they see anything untoward, they can breathalyse people on that basis. The current situation does not mean nothing can happen. Road checks can be set up anywhere and if gardaí see anything suspicious, they can carry out a breath test."
However, Mr Ahern added, the Attorney General was of the view that a scheme could be designed to bring a random roadside breath test into areas where there was a high number of accidents, that would deal with the constitutional difficulty relating to proportionality.
Earlier, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said there seemed to be confusion about the promised legislation.
"Prior to Christmas, on the advice of the Attorney General, this matter was deemed unconstitutional. After Christmas, the matter seemed to be perfectly constitutional and legal."
Mr Ahern said the issue had been fought in the courts on any technicality. But the Attorney General was quite satisfied the matter could be dealt with and he had advanced work on a scheme.
