Irish Bar Owners Upset With New Drink Driving Limit

Posted by barblog on Jun 24, 2010 in Bar Management | 2 comments

Tough new legislation was passed in Ireland last night that takes the take blood alcohol allowance from 0.08% to 0.05% or roughly one drink. This is just over half of the US drink driving limit as it currently stands. Anyone caught driving above this limit will face a three month mandatory ban. According to bar owners in Ireland, this is the “final nail in the coffin for rural bar owners”.

Vinters’ Federation of Ireland (VFI) chief executive Pádraig Cribben said today publicans were extremely disappointed with the move, which he said would do nothing to save lives. He said the Government had underfunded speeding enforcement which was the biggest single cause of road deaths in this State. “It will further marginalise rural Ireland and it will criminalise people who don’t need to be criminalised.”

Should bar owners be fighting a bill that saves lives? Ireland has done a tremendous job in the last five years of reducing road carnage to a level that is now one of the lowest in the world.

I understand that rural bars depend on a handful of old souls to come in for their pint or two of Guinness every night, but surely there’s a way around this. So publicly and heavily lobbying against the bill does nothing for the perception of the bar trade. I would advocate for more pro-active solutions such as:

- A local transport initiative paid for by locals and the bars.

- A range of activities, events and promotions that don’t hinge on alcohol only and offer non-alcoholic substitutions.

What are your thoughts on this?