Drink-driving arrests 'tiny fraction' of amount of people who admit to it, says Alcohol Action Ireland

Figures from An Garda Síochána and analysed by Alcohol Action Ireland detail that there have been 51,075 roadside checkpoints in 2025, where there were 189,736 breath tests carried out. File Picture: PA

There have been fewer than 10,000 arrests for drink-driving over the last two years, and Alcohol Action Ireland is raising concerns about the level of roadside testing.

The Department of Justice has confirmed there were 9,582 arrests across 2024 and 2025 for drink-driving, with 4,715 arrests made in 2024 and 4,867 arrests made in 2025.

The highest number of arrests each year were recorded in the month of December, with gardaí making 450 arrests in 2024 and 461 in 2025.

The figures were provided to Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin through a parliamentary question. The Department of Justice said these figures are based on “operational data from the Pulse system” on March 20.

The chief executive of Alcohol Action Ireland, Sheila Gilheany, raised concerns about the level of arrests, saying it is a “tiny fraction” when compared to the amount of people who admit to drink-driving.

“We know that they’re doing quite low levels of breath testing. Across Europe, we would have the lowest level of roadside breath testing, so people know that they don't have a very high chance of being caught,” Ms Gilheany said.

“In Australia, for example, they have set a target that every licensed driver should expect to be tested at least once a year.” 

Low level of detection

Ms Gilheany said that, in her 40 years of driving, she has only been tested once at the roadside for alcohol.

“That’s very normal for most people, you know, maybe once or twice," she said.

She said the low level of roadside testing was resulting in a low level of detection.

Ms Gilheany called for the Government to introduce a target for roadside testing each year, and to “put the resources behind it”.

Figures from An Garda Síochána and analysed by Alcohol Action Ireland detail that there have been 51,075 roadside checkpoints in 2025, where there were 189,736 breath tests carried out. In 2024, there were 52,661 checkpoints and 194,693 breath tests.

Ms Gilheany said the level of deaths due to drink-driving is a significant portion of road fatalities, with a third of road fatalities involving alcohol compared to 14% in Australia.

“We would just really like to see alcohol being taken, you know, seriously in this matter,” Ms Gilheany said.

“What we're very concerned about is that the level of drink-driving is increasing, as in the numbers of people admitting to drink-driving is increasing.” 

Ms Gilheany cited statistics from the Road Safety Authority which found that, in 2025, one in eight drivers admitted to drinking and driving in the previous 12 months.

“If we don’t do something about it, it will only get worse,” Ms Gilheany said.