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Version status: In force | Document consolidation status: Updated to reflect all known changes
Version date: 31 May 2024 - onwards
Version 5 of 5

9. Obligation to provide preliminary breath specimen.

(1) This section applies to a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place who, in the opinion of a member of the Garda Síochána -

(a) has consumed an intoxicant,

(b) is committing or has committed an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1961 to 2023,

(c) is or has been, with the vehicle, involved in a collision, or

(d) is or has been, with the vehicle, involved in an event in which death occurs or injury appears or is claimed to have been caused to a person of such nature as to require medical assistance for the person at the scene of the event or that the person be brought to a hospital for medical assistance.

(2) A member of the Garda Síochána shall, unless he or she is of opinion that the person should be arrested and subject to subsections (6) and (7), require a person to whom paragraph (a) or (d) of subsection (1) applies, and may require a person to whom paragraph (b) or (c) of that subsection applies -

(a) to provide, by exhaling into an apparatus for indicating the presence of alcohol in the breath, a specimen of his or her breath in the manner indicated by the member,

(b) to accompany him or her, or another member of the Garda Síochána, to a place (including a vehicle) at or in the vicinity of the public place concerned and there to provide, by exhaling into such an apparatus, a specimen of his or her breath in the manner indicated by him or her or that other member, or