263 motorists arrested for drink driving

UP to lunchtime yesterday 263 motorists were nabbed for drink driving as part of the Garda road safety offensive during the bank holiday weekend.

By midnight Friday, 51 suspected drink drivers were detected while on Saturday this number had doubled.

Yesterday, a further 110 drivers were caught up to 1pm, the Garda Press Office reported.

A spokesperson said the garda operation would continue until midnight on Monday. “We would continue to remind people that our advice regarding drinking and driving is simply: ‘If you are drinking this bank holiday weekend — don’t drive; use a nominated non-drinking driver to do the driving or else use public transport’”.

Assistant Garda Commissioner Eddie Rock had estimated on Friday that more than 400 people would be arrested over the bank holiday weekend for drink-driving.

He said garda enforcement levels were up one-third on last year.