BYRNE SAYS DECISIONS MUST BE MADE ON DRINK-DRIVING

The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, has said "hard decisions" need to be
made about drink-driving, and suggested that a total ban of alcohol
consumption by drivers might be desirable.

"The whole question has to be raised, that if you drink should you drive at
all?" Mr Byrne said in an interview with The Irish Times.

"What I'm concerned about is the attitude of people. With all the cars
parked outside pubs at night you have to ask yourself, are they just having
one pint or two pints and then driving home?"

Senior Garda sources last night acknowledged the Government's acceptance of
proposals for a licence penalty system and a new breathalyser system. One
source said EU laws would probably lead to a lowering of the Irish limit.

Mr Byrne said the high number of arrests for drink-driving this year was a
"terrible sign" of social attitudes. "The attitude in relation to
drink-driving and the abhorrence people had for it has somewhat dissipated
in recent times."

There are waves of outrage occasionally at the numbers killed on the road,
but there was a reluctance to make "hard decisions" he said. "My officers
are at the coalface. If people had to see accidents in which victims have
been mangled they might think differently." Gardai are unable to carry out
random checks and drivers may only be tested on suspicion of drink-driving.

"I take a drink myself, but we must continue to emphasise the unsocial
aspect and the criminal aspect of drinking and driving," the Commissioner
said. Asked if it would be difficult to see politicians supporting such a
measure, Mr Byrne said people in authority were "paid to make hard decisions".

Fifty-three of the 255 road deaths this year have been attributed to
drinking and driving. In a survey of accidents in a two-year period in
Waterford/Kilkenny, more than 60 per cent were linked to alcohol, almost
twice the estimated proportion.

No EU country has a zero-alcohol limit, although Denmark, Austria and
Scandinavian countries enforce extremely low maximum levels. In some EU
countries the limit is 30 mg, slightly more than a third the 80 mg legal
limit in Ireland. These countries also have a system of graded penalties
depending on the level of alcohol.

Political pressure at European Union level looks set to bring the EU limit
down to 50 mgs of alcohol, which would represent one pint, depending on
metabolic and other factors, and requiring drivers to avoid drinking, a
senior Garda source said.

Mr Byrne also said Garda management would review the overtime budget at the
end of the month, and he would discuss it with the Minister for Justice, Mr
O'Donoghue. Last year IEP43 million was spend on overtime, much of it on
high-visibility policing, such as Operation Dochas. This year's allocation
is IEP27 million.

The question of revising the right to silence for certain categories of
crime, to allow courts to draw an inference from the silence of a suspect
in custody, would be welcomed by gardai, i would welcome, Mr Byrne said. On
terrorism, Mr Byrne said the main focus of anti-terrorist activity was
focused on republican dissident groups. He welcomed the announcement of a
Loyalist Volunteer Force ceasefire. "But let's see what happens in the next
couple of days, and we have to take it from there."

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski