An Oireachtas committee has voted in favour of asking the Government to hold a referendum to allow the introduction of random testing of motorists for alcohol.
As the law stands at present, it is illegal for gardai to stop motorists at random and breath test them. They are only allowed to ask a motorist to take a test after they have formed an opinion that they are driving under the influence of alcohol.
The chairman of the Oireachtas Enterprise & Small Business Committee said the referendum could be held on the same day as the next General Election, which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern signalled last week would most likely be held in May 2007.
"It is up to the Government to accept or reject what we are proposing today," Fianna Fail Longford-Westmeath TD Donie Cassidy said. "Let the people of Ireland decide if they want breath testing or not."
The committee's third interim report on reform of the Irish insurance industry today said it believes a referendum is required to clarify the law.
The National Safety Council said the measure could save up to 150 lives a year because nearly a third of all drivers involved in fatal accidents were shown to have consumed alcohol. A total of 399 people died in 2005. It was the worst year since 2001. The Government's current road safety strategy aims to reduce the number of deaths to less than 300 a year.
Fine Gael transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell said the referendum would merely serve to divert attention from road safety measures which the Government could introduce immediately. She said she supported random testing, but argued that gardai already have the powers to test any motorist they choose.
"According to legal advice given to the Oireachtas Transport Committee, when this legislation was first introduced, gardai failed in many cases to secure convictions because they failed to establish how they had formed an opinion that the driver had been drinking," she said.
"Those initial evidential problems have been largely overcome by the gardai and this is no longer a major cause of failure to obtain a conviction."
Today's Oireachtas report, which was based on hearings held between April and November, also said a driver theory test should form part of the studies of transitional year students.
An inter-ministerial group comprising the Taoiseach and the ministers for health, transport, justice, education and finance should also be set up to oversee road safety, it recommended.
It also said insurance premiums could only be significantly reduced by fewer road fatalities, a capping of personal injury awards and competition in the insurance market. In addition, the report called for more speed cameras and premium discounts for drivers who allow in-car devices to monitor their speed.