Road Traffic and Transport Act 2006

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Obligation to provide specimen following arrest, etc.

1.— (1) The Road Traffic Act 1994 is amended—

(a) in section 9(1), by inserting after the definition of “intoxicant” the following:

“ ‘ nurse ’ means a person registered in the register of nurses established under section 27 of the Nurses Act 1985 . ”,

(b) in section 13—

(i) by substituting for subsection (1) the following:

“(1) Where a person is arrested under section 49(8), 50(10), 53(6), 106(3A) or 112(6) of the Principal Act, section 12(4) of this Act or section 4(7) of the Road Traffic Act 2006 , a member of the Garda Síochána may, at a Garda Síochána station, 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 or her breath and may indicate the manner in which he or she is to comply with the requirement;

(b) require the person either—

(i) to permit a designated doctor or designated nurse to take from the person a specimen of his or her blood, or

(ii) at the option of the person, to provide for the designated doctor or designated nurse a specimen of his or her urine,

and if the doctor or nurse states in writing that he or she is unwilling, on medical grounds, to take from the person or be provided by him or her 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.”;

and

(ii) in subsection (3)(b), by substituting “designated doctor or designated nurse” for “designated doctor”,

(c) in section 14—

(i) in subsection (4)—

(I) in paragraphs (a) and (b), by substituting “designated doctor or designated nurse” for “designated doctor”, and

(II) by substituting “if the doctor or nurse states” for “if the doctor states”,

and

(ii) in subsection (5)(b), by substituting “designated doctor or designated nurse” for “designated doctor”,

(d) in section 16(1), by substituting for paragraph (a) the following:

“(a) at a Garda Síochána station having been arrested under section 49(8) or 50(10) of the Principal Act, section 12(4) or 14(3) of this Act or section 4(7) of the Road Traffic Act 2006 , or”,

(e) in section 18, by substituting for subsection (1) the following:

“(1) Where under this Part a designated doctor or designated nurse has taken a specimen of blood from a person or has been provided by the person with a specimen of his or her urine, the doctor or nurse shall divide the specimen into 2 parts, place each part in a container which he or she shall immediately seal and complete the form prescribed for the purposes of this section.”,

(f) in section 21—

(i) in subsection (2), by substituting “designated doctor or designated nurse” for “designated doctor”,

(ii) in subsection (4), by substituting “designated doctor or designated nurse, as the case may be” for “designated doctor”, and

(iii) by substituting for subsection (5) the following:

“(5) Where under section 13, 14 or 15 a designated doctor, or under section 13 or 14 a designated nurse, states in writing that he or she is unwilling, on medical grounds, to take from a person a specimen of his or her blood or be provided by him or her with a specimen of his or her urine, the statement signed by the doctor or nurse, shall, in any proceedings under the Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2006 be sufficient evidence, until the contrary is shown, of the facts stated in it, without proof of any signature on it or that the signatory was the proper person to sign it.”,

(g) in section 23—

(i) in subsection (2), by substituting “designated doctor or designated nurse” for “designated doctor” in both places it occurs, and

(ii) in subsection (3), by substituting “designated doctor or designated nurse” for “designated doctor”,

and

(h) in section 24, by substituting “section 12 of this Act or section 4 of the Road Traffic Act 2006 ” for “section 12”.

(2) The collective citation “Road Traffic Acts 1961 to 2006” includes this section.