Independent TD Clare Daly has confirmed that official tests have confirmed she was well under the allowable legal limit for alcohol when arrested by gardai on suspicion of drunk driving last month.
Ms Daly has said today she received the official result of the test on the urine sample provided by her to gardai and the result was 45 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of urine, a third below the allowable limit of 67 milligrammes.
In a long statement released this afternoon, Ms Daly also confirmed that the Garda Ombudsman has begun an investigation into the widespread leaking of her arrest to the media under Section 28 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005.
She accused those who leaked the information as having an agenda and linked it to the fact that she and three other TDs have made public the assertions of Garda whistleblowers that thousands of penalty points were cancelled for invalid reasons.
"I believe that this was a deliberate attempt to discredit a left-wing TD who has raised issues of malpractice within the Garda Siochana. This information could only have come from within the gardaí," she said.
"This is a very serious issue,” she added. “Every citizen is entitled to their good name and to have their privacy respected."
Ms Daly was arrested in Kilmainham on Monday, January 28th, when returning from a two-hour meeting with a family on the southside of the city. She said she had accepted a hot whiskey she had been offered as she had a cold. Unfamiliar with the area, she took an illegal right turn when trying to get onto the South Circular Road and was stopped by gardaí.
"I was breathalysed but the equipment did not register a reading. I was arrested and handcuffed on the side of the road. I objected to being handcuffed and stated that I would willingly go to the Garda station. I was told by the arresting garda that this was procedure.
"I was brought in a patrol car to the Kilmainham Garda station within 300 metres distance. At one point I was placed in a cell on my own. A doctor was called and I provided a urine sample."
She also contended she was told by a garda to come back when she was sober.
"I believe that the gardaí implementing road safety have a job to do and I support them. However, I object strongly to the arrest, handcuffing and release of information re the arrest on suspicion of drink driving to the tabloid press early on Tuesday. My legal advice is that none of this is procedure," she said.
Ms Daly said that Garda whistle-blowers have quite correctly approached the designated confidential recipient and elected TDs, as they are lawfully entitled to do, have been threatened that they will be fully investigated in accordance with the Garda Síochána (Discipline) Regulations 2007 for speaking to a third party.
"I now expect that the same enthusiasm will be taken in relation to those who have sought to damage me," she said.
The Garda ombudsman does not comment on individual complaints made to it.
A Garda spokeswoman said she could not comment on any case being investigated by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. Asked to outline standard procedure in cases of arrests for alleged drink-driving, the Garda Press Office said it could not comment, as the request for information was linked to a current complaint made to the ombudsman.
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