Driving Offences

Penalty points. Drink Drive. No insurance. Dangerous Driving. No tax. Whatever the road traffic related offence, we can help you.

The overwhelming majority of all offences in the District Court are road traffic related. If you’ve been served with a summons or if you have a charge sheet in respect of a driving offence, call us immediately so we can advise you what to do next.

Drink Driving Charges

We have the necessary court room experience and legal knowledge to advise as to whether a drink driving charge can be contested. The offence of drink driving may arise in a number of different ways depending on the specimens, if any, which have been taken at a Garda Station.  Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act, 2010 as amended, introduced new limits of alcohol and created two separate limits depending as to whether the driver is an ‘experienced driver’ and other drivers.

The offences under Section 4 is as follows:

• An offence of driving or attempting to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place while under the influence of an intoxicant to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the vehicle.
• An offence of driving or attempting to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place while there is present in your body a quantity of alcohol such that, within 3 hours after so driving or attempting to drive, the concentration of alcohol in your blood exceeds a concentration of:
  – 50 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood for experience drivers
  – 20 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood for other drivers
• An offence of driving or attempting to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place while there is present in your body a quantity of alcohol such that, within 3 hours after so driving or attempting to drive, the concentration of alcohol in your urine exceeds a concentration of:
  – 67 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine for experienced drivers
  – 27 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine for other drivers
• An offence of driving or attempting to drive a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place while there is present in your body a quantity of alcohol such that, within 3 hours after so driving or attempting to drive, the concentration of alcohol in your breath exceeds a concentration of:
  – 22 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath for an experience driver
  – 9 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath for other drivers

In any prosecution for drink driving, it must be shown the you drove or attempted to drive a motorised vehicle in a public place and you were under the influence of an intoxicant to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of a vehicle.

The law of drink driving is highly technical. It is what is known as a strict liability offence and therefore it is incumbent on the prosecuting Garda to ensure all aspects of the offence. In the event a particular evidential proof is omitted or not proven, then ordinarily this would lead to the charge being dismissed.

If you have been charged with this offence, we can give you an expert analysis as to whether there are grounds to contest the charge.

If you have been charged with any road traffic offence, please contact us at 074-9725105 so we can advise you.