None for the road: limit for drink-driving to be slashed
TRANSPORT Minister Noel Dempsey has vowed to introduce a new lower limit for drink driving before the end of the year despite opposition from publicans.
Fianna Fail TDs have been subjected to a strong lobbying campaign from the Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI), which is opposed to his plans to reduce the drink-driving limit from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg.
After being asked if the limit would be implemented before the end of the year, Mr Dempsey said there was a commitment in the road safety strategy to reduce the blood-alcohol level to save lives and to prevent injuries on the road.
Commitment
"We've been successful in all of the other things we've done. It's my intention to see that commitment through," he said.
The Department of Transport has previously insisted that Mr Dempsey had made no decision, and that he was still "consulting colleagues".
But at the launch of a new boat for the Irish Coastguard service in Drogheda yesterday, Mr Dempsey made it clear that he would be going ahead with the reduction in the drink-driving limit.
"The means of doing that will be in the Road Traffic Bill, which we will publish in the autumn," he said.
Under another new provision in the legislation, first-time drink-driving offenders would get the choice of accepting six penalty points and heavy fines on their driving licences, or else going to court and facing a possible ban.
The VFI had circulated a letter to Fianna Fail TDs recently in which it warned that changing the drink-driving limit could have an impact on the Lisbon Treaty referendum.
It said that it could "turn many people in rural areas against central authority and will make the selling of the Lisbon treaty more difficult in rural areas in the autumn".
The association, which represents around 6,000 rural publicans, also said that cutting the limit down to 50mg would destroy 5,000 jobs by effectively limiting drivers to less than one drink.
"If the blood alcohol is reduced from 80mg to 50mg, a person having a glass of wine with a meal is likely to be over the limit," the letter said.
"Similarly, a person having one pint on the way home after a day's work is likely to be over the limit.
"Indeed, a priest having said two Masses is likely to be over the limit," it added.
Ireland and Britain are the only two countries in the EU which have the higher 80mg drink-driving limit.
Report
The Public Against Road Carnage group said it wanted the lower blood-alcohol limit introduced as soon as possible and the Road Safety Authority has delivered an expert report backing the move.
Last year, it emerged that the Department of Health secretary general Michael Scanlan had criticised officials in Mr Dempsey's Department of Transport for initially not supporting the lower limit.
"I would strongly advocate for the 50mg level to be included in the new Road Safety Strategy, given its potential to save more lives and reduce injuries on our roads," Mr Scanlan wrote at the time.
- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
