Government under fire over traffic corp delay

THE Government has come under attack for putting off plans to set up a dedicated traffic corps to police road safety law.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell has blamed legal obstacles for delays in drawing up a format for the new force after it emerged substantial new legislation would have to be enacted to allow for the establishment of a law enforcement authority separate from the gardaí.

The minister told an Oireachtas committee he also wanted to avoid problems that had arisen in other countries where traffic police were restricted to enforcing motoring law and had to call in regular police to tackle other crimes they detected while on patrol.