SEANAD REPORT:CLAIMING THAT there was a concerted approach by the Labour Party to "downgrade" people receiving social welfare payments, Thomas Byrne (FF) called for an investigation into the leaking of a private social welfare file to a Labour Senator, as reported in various newspapers.

The Data Protection Commissioner or the Garda should carry out such an inquiry. It seemed to him there was an agenda in Labour to denigrate social welfare beneficiaries. It had started with the Minister for Social Protection talking about a life-style choice. Senator Jimmy Harte had received information which appeared to be wrong in a number of respects. But if the case was a real one, there should be a full investigation, because it related to identifiable individuals. Mr Harte had been reported as claiming that a couple from Bosnia were receiving €90,000 in welfare annually.

While emphasising that a newly introduced Bill was intended to strengthen existing intoxicated driving legislation, Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar acknowledged that he would have to look again at whether it was adequate to deal with the right of a hospitalised person to retain a blood sample for independent analysis.

Speaking in the second-stage debate on the Road Traffic Bill 2011, the Minister said its primary purpose was to introduce mandatory breath-testing of drivers by gardaí at the lower blood alcohol concentration levels that had been prescribed. Colm Burke (FG) said he was concerned as to whether a blood sample taken in a hospital could also be provided to an accused for testing.