New legislation makes it illegal to drive under influence of drugs

A raft of new measures has been passed into law in the Road Traffic Bill – including meaures which make it illegal to drive having taken cannabis, cocaine or heroin.

The Road Traffic Bill also makes it an offence to drive while under the influence of the cannabis-containing drug Salvidex, used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

As well as this, in a move that might prove controversial for people newly arrived in Ireland, the National Transport Authority (NTA) will now have the right to regulate rickshaw drivers after an amendment introduced and pressed by Sinn Féin’s Imelda Munster was passed in a vote. Minister for Transport Shane Ross had opposed the amendment. Anecdotal evidence suggests that numerous non-Irish students work part-time as rickshaw drivers.

The Bill was reintroduced this year after it fell when the general election was called.

According to The Irish Times, a number of amendments, the principle of which Mr Ross accepted, were not passed because they were the responsibility of the Minister for Finance.

Independent TD Tommy Broughan proposed an amendment that insurance companies should be instructed to write to learner drivers that driving unaccompanied by a specified qualified driver and/or without displaying L plates invalidates the terms and conditions of their insurance policy.

It also sought to ensure that any payment made to a third party in the event of a collision may be recouped from the learner driver and/or the main policy holder.

Mr Ross said he could not accept it. He said, however, that he and the Minister for Justice were struck by the lack of knowledge among the insurance companies about their data, when they were called into a group that examines road safety.

“It was alarming that they did not have the relevant data we needed, particularly on this issue of learner drivers, so we dispatched them with a request to come back to us with that information at an early date."