Drink driving prosecutions which had been adjourned in Donegal will be brought before the local courts after a Supreme Court ruling today.
A challenge to a drink-driving prosecution in Dublin had put a delay on 45 cases of alleged drink driving in Donegal which were due before Letterkenny District Court this year.
Today, RTE News reports that the Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge over breathalyser languages which was taken because evidence in a drink-driving case was not provided in both English and Irish.
A Romanian national Mihai Avadanei, from Swords in Dublin, had taken the challenge over his 2014 prosecution for alleged drink-driving. His case claimed that the print-out from the intoxilyser machine operated by Gardai should be in both English and Irish, as written in the Road Traffic Act, 2010.
Nationally, up to 1,400 drink driving prosecutions were on hold pending today’s Supreme Court ruling.
Letterkenny District Court Judge Paul Kelly refused to strike out 45 cases in October which were pending the decision on Mr Avadanei’s case. Judge Kelly adjourned all pending cases until December 21st.
The Supreme Court today said that the breathalyser form should have provided Irish language readings, but the court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal and ruled that the substance of the prescribed form is the information intended to be proved in evidence.
Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley said the content was “no way misleading, confusing or unfair” and no right of the appellant was violated by its admission.