Road Traffic Act, 1994
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Obligation to provide specimen following arrest. |
13.—(1) Where a person is arrested under section 49 (8) or 50 (10) of the Principal Act or section 12 (3) , or where a person is arrested under section 53 (6), 106 (3A) or 112 (6) of the Principal Act and a member of the Garda Síochána is of opinion that the person has consumed an intoxicant, a member of the Garda Síochána may, at a Garda Síochána station, at his discretion, do either or both of the following— | |
(a) require the person to provide, by exhaling into an apparatus for determining the concentration of alcohol in the breath, 2 specimens of his breath and may indicate the manner in which he is to comply with the requirement, | ||
(b) require the person either— | ||
(i) to permit a designated doctor to take from the person a specimen of his blood, or | ||
(ii) at the option of the person, to provide for the designated doctor a specimen of his urine, | ||
and if the doctor states in writing that he is unwilling, on medical grounds, to take from the person or be provided by him with the specimen to which the requirement in either of the foregoing subparagraphs related, the member may make a requirement of the person under this paragraph in relation to the specimen other than that to which the first requirement related. | ||
(2) Subject to section 23 , a person who refuses or fails to comply forthwith with a requirement under subsection (1)(a) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both. | ||
(3) Subject to section 23 , a person who, following a requirement under subsection (1)(b)— | ||
(a) refuses or fails to comply with the requirement, or | ||
(b) refuses or fails to comply with a requirement of a designated doctor in relation to the taking under that subsection of a specimen of blood or the provision under that subsection of a specimen of urine, | ||
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both. | ||
(4) In a prosecution for an offence under this Part or under section 49 or 50 of the Principal Act it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, that an apparatus provided by a member of the Garda Síochána for the purpose of enabling a person to provide 2 specimens of breath pursuant to this section is an apparatus for determining the concentration of alcohol in the breath. | ||
(5) Section 1 (1) of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1907 , shall not apply to an offence under this section. |