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Obligation to provide breath specimen.
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15.—(1) Whenever a member of the Garda Síochána is of the opinion that a person in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place has consumed intoxicating liquor, he may require him to provide, by exhaling into an apparatus for indicating the concentration of alcohol in breath or blood, a specimen of his breath and may indicate the manner in which or the place (including a vehicle) where he is to comply with the requirement, or both the manner and the place.
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(2) (a) Subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, a person who refuses or fails to comply forthwith with a requirement under this section, or to comply forthwith with such a requirement in a manner or place indicated by a member of the Garda Síochána, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or, at the discretion of the court, to a fine not exceeding £500, or to both.
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(b) It shall be a good defence to a prosecution for an offence under this section to show that, as soon as practicable after the refusal or failure, the defendant offered to permit a designated registered medical practitioner to take from him a specimen of the defendant's blood.
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(3) A member of the Garda Síochána may arrest without warrant a person who in the member's opinion is committing or has committed an offence under this section, and a person so arrested shall be deemed to be a person arrested under section 16 (4).
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(4) In a prosecution for an offence under this section it shall be presumed until the contrary is shown that an apparatus provided by a member of the Garda Síochána for the purpose of enabling a person to provide a specimen of breath is an apparatus for indicating the concentration of alcohol in breath or blood.
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