Fianna Fáil TDs have privately hit out at colleague Malcolm Byrne after he told them he intends to bring forward AI legislation this term, just months after he was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving. Byrne, TD for Wicklow-Wexford, stepped down as chair of the Oireachtas AI committee following the arrest and faces the Criminal Courts of Justice on 2 November; some colleagues feel it is "presumptuous" for him to be pushing high-profile new laws while his case is pending, and had expected him to keep a low profile.

Byrne allegedly failed a roadside breath test in Dublin last May while travelling to catch a flight to an AI conference in Germany, and a subsequent urine test reportedly showed him almost two-and-a-half times over the legal limit. Despite resigning his committee chairmanship, he remains an active committee member and has emailed party colleagues outlining at least two AI-related bills he hopes to introduce, a move backbenchers described as unusually "relaxed" given the circumstances. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has ruled out party sanctions, saying there is "no precedent" for disciplining TDs over motoring offences, while separate garda figures show 129 road deaths in Ireland so far this year, up 15 on the same period last year.