Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is causing more accidents than alcohol now. To be fair to most young people today, they are responsible. In my home town, when I go to the pub and see young people there they act responsibly. They are not drinking and driving. The older people might chance it now and again but most people act responsibly. They try to get taxis to take them into town and home again, which is very difficult. As other speakers said, everyone wants a taxi at the same time and that does not work. There is no public transport whatever, where someone in Dublin can go out onto the street and put up his or her hand and there will be a taxi, but there is also the option of taking the Luas, the Dart or a bus. The people who I represent have no opportunity to get transport if they wish to socialise for a night. I am not talking about people who drink heavily, I mean people who might have one or two drinks, who respect the law and have always done so and defended the law. These are the people who we will make criminals out of. It is very wrong and we should look at this again. I do not support what the Minister is doing. I understand what he is trying to do but we should recognise that there are people who are responsible, who might have two drinks and are not road hogs and do not cause accidents.

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