Supreme Court decision on drivers' breath samples

DRIVERS suspected of having consumed alcohol and brought to a garda station don’t have to give breath samples in the manner indicated by a garda but they must provide breath specimens sufficient to enable the concentration of alcohol in the breath to be determined, the Supreme Court decided yesterday.

The court by a two-to-one majority decided that merely exhaling into the intoximeter was not

sufficient compliance with the requirements under the road traffic legislation unless it enabled the concentration of alcohol in the breath to be determined.