Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We argue about professional opinions. There are two sides to every story, and not only from the layman, gardaí and politicians. It also applies to professional people and academics. For example, Professor Jim Heffron provided an article entitled, "Drink-driving proposals inconsistent with the scientific evidence". I will not go into the whole document unless I decide to filibuster, but that is simply an example of where someone says that we are going over the top again.

I come from rural Ireland. In recent years, I have seen how the original drink driving proposals have had an effect. We have seen many pubs close already. People have stopped going to them. I have cited evidence for the Minister already. A general practitioner gave me an example lately. He goes for a walk regularly and he has noticed changes since these draconian laws came in. He goes past an old cottage and beside it a pile of empty bottles and cans is growing every week.

Deputy Collins referred to mental health and mental illness. People staying at home on their own can lead to that and more thought needs to be given to the matter. When these people go to their local pub, they are drinking in a controlled environment. If they are consistent with the law, they will know with what they can drink and drive. However, if people go home and cannot go out, they will drink to eternity. Nowadays, people cannot go home after one or two. They will stay in the pub, drink for the whole night and hope to get a taxi home. The Minister is actually doing more damage to many more people.

Reference was made to the older person. The phrase I will use is that the Minister is killing a dying breed.

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The younger generation takes a different approach to Irish culture. They go out only at weekends. At one time, GAA teams would have a few drinks in the local village after a match but that is no longer the case because of new fitness regimes and so forth.

The Minister is trying to plámás his senior partner in government, the Fine Gael Party, with gimmicks such as tax incentives, buses and other forms of transport. The only transport solution that would work in rural Ireland would be the introduction of driverless cars. The Minister should not try to cod his senior partner in government with gimmicks that will not work.

The proposed measure will affect not only rural areas, but also some towns and built-up areas of cities, including Dublin, where pubs are beyond walking distance for many people. I took a taxi to a function in the Citywest hotel one night recently. As we passed a few pubs in Clondalkin, I asked the taxi driver what the story was with taxis in the area. He told me that taxi drivers would not work in the area because the fares would be too low and inconsistent and, therefore, unviable. The measure will hit big towns and cities and the leafy suburbs of the Minister's constituency where people live in Ireland's answer to the Champs d'Élysée. They too will be hit when they go for a glass of wine or a pre-Christmas drink. The Minister is not only hitting rural Ireland.

It is ironic that the Government was able to have the budget and other legislation passed quicker than this Bill, a one-page document which has been on the Minister's desk for the past eight or nine months. While I acknowledge this issue is taboo and it is hard to argue one's case because opinions differ on it, I ask the Minister to take a common sense approach. Everyone would respect him if did so because the legislation is not necessary.

The Minister accuses the Fianna Fáil Party of being in the pockets of the vintners. I spoke against his proposal at a committee meeting in February. The measure will not only impact on publicans. Restaurants and other establishments that serve meals and hold a licence to sell alcoholic beverages will also be affected. Many people like to have one drink with a meal. Young couples have big overheads and have to pay for a babysitter if they go out for a couple of drinks. This Bill will mean they will also have to pay for a taxi if they go out for a meal and one drink.

I will not define how much alcohol would put someone over the limit, whether it is two or three pints or whatever, as I am sure a mechanism will be put in place to let everyone know their limit in terms of what they can drink before driving. It is said the limit is approximately one and a half pints but I do not know if that is the case. All of us have different capabilities.

I will not dwell for long on the issue of the morning after. I heard a lady being interviewed on "Drivetime" recently. She was not a regular drinker but admitted having a couple of glasses of wine at some gathering or other. The following morning she assumed she would be fine to drive to work but she was pulled over and failed a breathalyser test. However, because the result fell within the 50 mg to 80 mg category, she was given a warning. She stated on the programme that she would never again drink late at night and drive to work the following morning. What I am trying to say is that the current legislation is doing its job.

If people drive the following morning and if they are caught and go down, they will know they were wrong. The former Minister, Mr. Noel Dempsey, included that proviso to safeguard people the following morning.

There are many matters I could talk about. Laws like this create a Trump factor. People feel they are not being listened to. That is why one gets an electorate who vote for the likes of Trump. They feel they are getting no respect from Kildare Street and its environ of bureaucracy. We in rural Ireland feel we are not being listened to.

In his deliberation, the Minister made the point that most road fatalities are outside Dublin. They are because we have the roads where the speed limits are up to 100 km/h, with motorways up to 120 km/h and by-roads up to 80 km/h. Dublin is a controlled zone with a limit of 50 km/h, reducing to 30 km/h in some places soon.

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