Mr. Pat Crotty:

That is why in many rural pubs there are a quite a few cars still in the car park in the morning. It is not necessarily that the owners are still inside in the pub but that they have found some other way home. Sometimes, as we described, they have been brought home by the publicans themselves. The fact that somebody drives to the pub does not mean he or she is going to drink to excess and get in the car and drive home again.

If I could comment on the Deputy's first question about why people persist if penalties are adequate and severe, it is my view as a publican and as someone who drives a lot of miles too, that at this stage there is no fear of being caught. There is not enforcement. Mr. Padraig Cribben mentioned the number of miles he drives without ever having been breathalysed. I can say the same. I am sure I should touch wood or something. There is no fear of it among a certain cohort of people. The ordinary citizen who has one drink after work and drives on home for his dinner to his family is not the person who is killing someone. As the evidence shows, it is the person who drinks to twice or four times the limit or whatever and gets in the car. Why do they think that is okay? They do not expect to be caught and they do it every night.