Alcohol breath test results must be supplied in English and Irish, court rules

Here we go again! Hundreds of dangerous drink drivers set to be back on our roads again knowing that even if they are caught again probably will escape again. Many thanks to the legal profession again, have they no shame at all? (Don't answer). Are we ever going to learn? And I'm glad to hear that our Romanian community are fluent in Irish.
 
Whilst I am disappointed in hearing of this, we've known now for some time that lots of publications must be published in both languages. Surely someone somewhere with responsibilities for such things must have thought about this at some stage. If they did they obviously didn't do anything about it which should warrant an investigation. If they didn't surely that should warrant an investigation into their fit for purpose.
 
I agree Firefly. The legal profession were just doing their job. The problem is the Gardai weren't. It's not unreasonable to expect the police to know the law.
 
The Garda probably do know the law, and thought it reasonable that documentation could be in english.
Only now, on court case, does our (love) of Irish come into play .
I think Garda have applied Law ,in the sense of reasonableness, and expect justice to take its course.
I do not believe it was the intention that legislation drawn up to combat/penalise drink driving would be queried in this way.
So even if a few get (off) I think most of them will ,in the shock of prosecution learn their lesson.
 
blueband said:
As purple said, the legal profession are just doing their job. its the state that screwed up here..
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Yes, the State screwed up - nothing new there and I'm sure no heads will roll either (prob not even an increment will be stopped). But the eagerness at which the Legal prof look for loopholes and try to get people who are clearly guilty off on technicalities....well, I couldn't sleep at night doing that kind of thing
 
I would like to see a system whereby breaches in evidence like the above impact on sentencing as opposed to being able to stop the entire trial process itself

So in the above example you have a situation where there is a problem with the evidence so if the defendant is found guilty then the sentence has to be reduced to say 25% or 50% or something like that. At the very least the defendant has a conviction against their name irrespective of the sentence at the end of it. An innocent verdict doesn't impact on the defendant at all.

No reason why this cannot be extended to all aspects of the law, right up to murder cases etc
 
Creemeg,

I would be fairly sure Garda applied the law .
By reasonable , I meant Garda application was fair and within their understanding of legislation.
Law is tested by cases like this, its a bit harsh to lump issue onto Garda.
I think Garda (not just in this case) should not be expected to be 100% masters of Law and its little quirks?
 
The requirement for the report to be in both languages was only updated in 2011, according to the judge the requirement is very clear, but all I've seen in the legislation is a reference to the prescribed format, without mention of what that format is.

The Evidenzer Irl Breathalysers the Gardai have are not capable of reporting in both languages, the user must choose one or the other. So, which came first, these devices or the 2011 legislation? It's not clear what the requirements were beforehand, but the real question is one of:
  • Why did Evidenzer Irl win a tender to provide machines that were not capable of meeting a basic requirement? ...or ...
  • Why did no one point out in 2011 that the equipment in use could not support Vradker's legislation change?
 
Under law he is not entitled to it in Romanian. It states he must be given the report in both languages, but it was only provided in English. Therefore the Gardai failed in their duty, so he gets away with it.
 
Leo said:
Under law he is not entitled to it in Romanian. It states he must be given the report in both languages, but it was only provided in English. Therefore the Gardai failed in their duty, so he gets away with it.
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That is the bottom line.
 
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