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Listen up Danny Healy-Rae, Ray Darcy and all of Kerry. Its not Just the drink driving limit, we need to tackle the real Issue on Irelands roads.
http://youtu.be/I6HXIuCocLM

So if you knock someone down on the way home you just show your permit to the cops, then what happens?

We don't need drunk drivers. I sometimes walk home on country roads if I dont get a lift, usually from the publician and would prefer not to get knocked down. I would be happy to give say the price of a pint to some local to drop me home the mile or so I live from my local. Maybe Mr Healy Rae could ask the minister to allow permits to some person to do this, or extend a rural transport system.Create rural employment instead...

The main cause of deaths on Rural Irish roads is down to the fact that most of these roads are only fit for horse and carts or traps and not for modern vehicles . Our country roads are death traps. The majority are windy single lane carriageways where you could be stuck behind slow travelling vehicles for miles without a safe opportunity to overtake. We are a third world country when it comes to Infrastructure and public transportation in rural Ireland. I do not condone drunk driving though I have to admit having driven on occasions when over the legal limit to do so . I would say that on the occasions when I have done this that I have always driven in a safe manner. Because of the unavailability of Public transport in much of rural Ireland there isn't much of a choice if you want to go and meet people in the pub and socialize. For many people this means consumption of a few pints. It is a fact that the effect of alcohol on different people can have a different impact and the old coordination testing to identify a persons ability to drive safely would be more appropriate than the concentration of alcohol in the blood in my opinion. Police cars could carry a simulation tester to test drivers reflexs and capability of driving in the back waters of Kerry rather than the "bag". One death caused by drunk driving is too much and I can appreciate that the Kerry proposal flies in the face of what authorities throughout the world are trying to achieve. Whilst some deaths on the road may be attributable to driving under the influence of alcohol, the majority are caused by issues unrelated to alcohol. I would be interested to see statistics of the amounts of deaths on Kerry rural roads for the past ten years where the person who caused the accident had between 100 and 200 mgs of alcohol per 100 mgs of blood. Rural Ireland is a special case and it is 100% true that many people are more tolerant to alcohol than others. I would suggest that a new driving test could be introduced for people whereby their driving ability is assessed after consumption of here or four pints and if their tolerance is such that they are able to drive perfectly well having consumed the three or four pints they should be given permits to drive on designated rural roads ( the public would be aware of which roads are designated) . Most accidents are caused by speed, tiredness , crappy roads and driver error and whilst the proposal put forward by Councillor Healy Rae may seem regressive and dinasorean it has got merit in the context to which it relates and the spirit behind the proposal.