Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I can give the Senator the up-to-date figures up to today. They are exactly the same as last year. There is absolutely zero difference. At least they are very close to last year's. I monitor them daily. As of today, they are exactly the same as last year's, which is not encouraging and not good. However, none of the measures we have taken, as I said to Deputy Fitzpatrick, has been commenced yet, so they will not even start to have an effect for about six weeks, but what he said is important in this respect. Enforcement is vitally important because it creates the right atmosphere in which people think they will be caught or, if they have already been caught, have to go to court. I do not believe this atmosphere exists yet. I think there is a feeling, especially among young males, that they will not be caught and that, even if they are caught, there is a good chance of getting off for various reasons. The fact the Garda has increased its patrols by 10% - the figure may not be up to 10% yet as it is for the entire year, but the Garda is increasing its patrols - and the fact it did this at Christmas is very encouraging. The figures for Garda activity that came in at Christmas were encouraging, but the figures for the results were quite staggeringly bad. There was a 35% increase in people drink-driving in the six weeks surrounding Christmas, so we have a huge amount of work to do but we are tackling it. The Senator is absolutely right that there is a problem with enforcement. Some of this is simply due to the fact that people feel the measures will not be enforced.