Shatter unable to provide breath sample to Garda because of asthma

Justice Minister Alan Shatter has said he failed to give a breath test at a Garda checkpoint several years ago because he is asthmatic.

The minister had been challenged to account for his behaviour after Independent TD Mattie McGrath claimed he had been stopped in late February or early March 2011.

The questions were raised days after Mr Shatter refused to resign after revealing on television that Independent TD Mick Wallace had avoided prosecution for driving while using a mobile phone.

“No such event occurred at the time stated,” the Minister said.

In a statement dealing with questions raised by Mr McGrath, the Minister rejected claims that he had been stopped around the time of the last general election but that there was an incident at a checkpoint in 2009 or late 2008 when he was stopped at night by gardaí on Pembroke Street, Dublin.

“There was a queue of motorists and when I was reached, like those before me, my road tax and insurance discs were checked and I was asked to exhale into a breathalyser. I did so but failed to fully complete the task due to my being asthmatic,” he said.

“I explained this to the garda. I also explained that I was on my way home from Dáil Éireann and that I had consumed no alcohol of any nature that day.”

Mr Shatter said he was waved on through the checkpoint after two gardaí discussed the issue at the roadside.

“There was no question of my having consumed any alcohol, nor of my having committed any offence,” the minister said.

Mr McGrath had earlier called on the Government to account for Mr Shatter’s behaviour towards gardaí at a checkpoint in 2011.

The Independent TD from Tipperary claimed he was raising the issue on the same basis that the minister had divulged on television that Mick Wallace TD had been stopped by gardaí while driving and using a mobile phone but not prosecuted.

Mr McGrath said it was not about making a political charge or for personal benefit but to defend the integrity of the Garda.

“This would have a very high bearing on the whole debate,” Mr McGrath said.

Mr Shatter and Mr Wallace have repeatedly clashed over whether gardaí should be allowed to use their discretion in quashing minor motoring offences or fixed charges.

The minister, under pressure to resign after revealing the information on Mr Wallace, went on to give further details of a separate occasion when he was stopped by a garda.

He had been driving in a bus lane on Ormond Quay in Dublin several years ago at about 11.30am.

“A garda on a motorbike stopped by my car and directed me to roll down my window and informed me I should not be in a bus lane,” he said.

“I explained that the signage detailed that all vehicles could travel in it between 10am and 12 noon. No more was said and he moved on.”

Earlier, Mr McGrath asked for Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore to answer a series of questions about Mr Shatter’s attitude at a garda checkpoint.

Mr McGrath asked: “Whether he (Mr Shatter) was asked to produce a specimen of breath... and whether his behaviour and reaction to this request was indeed appropriate and indeed cordial or whether he attempted to use the privilege of travelling to and from the Dáil as a means of avoiding the breath test?”

The Tánaiste said he had been unaware.

Mr Shatter has been under intense pressure over his handling of the controversy surrounding the quashing of fixed charged penalties for road traffic offences.

He revealed that Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan had briefed him about Mr Wallace being stopped by a garda at the Five Lamps in north Dublin while using a phone and driving.

Mr Shatter said it had been introduced as an aside and was necessary in case Mr Wallace had revealed it himself.

Mr Callinan has not commented on the briefing.