Ms Moyagh Murdock:

We have better evidence now. We had got the low-hanging fruit up to 2011. We have crystallised the real underlying reasons. As I said earlier, we would have expected around 15% of crashes to be alcohol related. We also must accept that in 2011 the number of cars on the road was declining. We are seeing a big increase in employment and disposable income and a change in attitudes. There is a whole new crop of young people coming out. Drivers who are now 20 or 21 years old were only in their childhood or early teens in 2011. The only road safety messages they heard were the safe cross code and what they got in primary school.

We need to change attitudes in exactly the same way as happened for the smoking ban, when zero tolerance was achieved. We have an issue with alcohol in Ireland and it is creeping into all areas of society. Road safety is just one element of it. This is a measure that is needed to change attitudes and make drink driving completely unacceptable. We have a massive cohort of young people who do not accept drinking and driving. Unfortunately, there is a growing number who think it is okay. While everybody does not drink and drive, there is a small number of people who do and, once they start, the problem becomes pervasive.