Many drink-drivers on Irish roads are not being detected because of a shortage of resources, a senior garda has admitted.
Chief Supt Denis Fitzpatrick, head of the Garda National Traffic Policy Bureau, said yesterday that 95 per cent of those arrested on suspicion of a drink-driving offence were over the legal limit. Two-thirds of these were over twice the limit.
Some 1,261 people were arrested for drink-driving in the five weeks to December 31st. Given that so many of those arrested were over the limit, it was fair to suspect a huge number of drink-drivers were not getting caught, he said.
If the Garda had more resources more people would be stopped and tested, he told the Pat Kenny Show on RTÉ Radio 1. "There probably are a lot of people there that are not being detected that are over the limit, and this is the worrying trend," he said.
"If we did test more people the likelihood is that that percentage level of 95 would reduce.
"More people should pass the test, but the disturbing figure is the 95 per cent of people arrested, and two-thirds are over twice the legal limit".
Chief Supt Fitzpatrick said police across the country and across Europe always complained of not having enough resources.
"But we have to deal with the resources we have. We can wish-list that we had this and that, but we don't have them. We work with what we have," he said.
There was a huge improvement in many aspects of driver behaviour. More people were wearing seat belts, and drivers were slowing down.
But the one category where there was no real indication of change was drink-driving. Only 76 fewer people were arrested for drink-driving in the final five weeks of 2002 than in the same period in 2001.
Meanwhile, he said, the Garda would implement the new law on the compulsory carrying of driving licences in a "practical and pragmatic" way.
"The law is quite clear. You must have your driving licence with you and if you don't have it you will be breaking the law, but gardaí have always operated in a pragmatic way with a degree of discretion, and this will be no different," he said.
Drivers who do not carry their licence now face a maximum fine on conviction of €800.
The offence will also attract penalty points from a date to be fixed later in the year.