State agency denies delaying drink-driving law

An RSA spokesperson told the Irish Independent that it “absolutely” denied having “slowed down” pre-legislative scrutiny of the Road Traffic (Fixed Penalty-Drink Driving) Bill, which would impose an automatic three-month driving ban on drink drivers.

Brendan Griffin, chair of the Oireachtas transport committee, told Newstalk that the RSA’s request to appear before the committee for a second time was a “delaying aspect” in its deliberations.

He also said that the RSA’s insistence that annual figures for road deaths caused by drink-drivers could not be published due to data protection reasons had caused further delay.

Mr Griffin’s comments come after Transport Minister Shane Ross last week criticised the committee for appearing to “be in no hurry” to complete its scrutiny of his proposed new law.

Mr Griffin has said the committee could complete its deliberations as early as next week.