Máirín Quill
Question:30 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Justice the steps, if any, she intends to take to ensure that the drink driving clampdown by the Garda at Christmas is kept in place on an all-year-round basis. [1534/97]
Written Answers. - Drink Driving.
There seems to be a perception that the drink driving campaign is seasonable and that publicity and enforcement measures are only taken at Christmas. This is not so. While it is the case that the number of checkpoints tend to increase around Christmas, for the very obvious reason that a high level of offending can be anticipated, the enforcement of the drink driving laws is given a high priority by the Garda authorities throughout the year.
Ongoing campaigns are carried out by the Garda to enforce the law not only in relation to drink driving but also speeding, dangerous and careless driving, and seat belt wearing. These campaigns, carried out in conjunction with the road safety campaigns conducted by the National Safety Council, are critical elements of the road safety together strategy which my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, announced in May 1996. In co-operation and consultation with all the agencies involved in road safety, effective measures are being taken to combat the scourge of road accidents as a result of drink driving.
The campaigns have created a greater awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving and have made such behaviour less acceptable to the general public. In addition, the results of the campaigns can be seen in the downward trend for prosecutions for drink driving offences in recent years. Such prosecutions have dropped from 6,568 in 1993 to 4,949 in 1995 the most recent year for which statistics are available, notwithstanding a significant increase in the number of checkpoints.
I wish to assure the Deputy that the Garda authorities are committed to the rigorous enforcement of the road traffic Acts, including the law on drink driving, throughout the year.