Rural drinkers should not get legal preference

THE drink driving discussion on the Late Late Show (November 24) was frustrating, to say the least.

Yet again the rural case, presented by Cllr Michael Healy Rae and, to a lesser extent, by Brenda Power used the old cliché of ‘the decimation of rural Ireland’ as an excuse to have some kind of modified law on drink driving.

This type of moaning is an embarrassment to those of us living in rural Ireland, and I believe it does not reflect accurately our attitudes to drink driving.

People who speak on behalf of rural communities would do well to show real leadership.

Calling for a preferential law for one group is nonsense and it does nothing for those of us who want to see fairness in a range of other rural policies. There is one clear fact that must be agreed by all: drink driving kills and does not discriminate against any one group.

Any leader of any section of our society must accept that.

Otherwise we tolerate, however unwittingly, the spectre of the cutting down of human life in a needless and unbearably cruel fashion.

This loss of life or permanent injury, followed by the infinite anguish experienced by the families left behind, must be stopped.

This means tackling all of the factors that contribute to it. Drink driving is a significant one. Surely it is not difficult to give that type of leadership.

The problems facing rural pubs are a lot more fundamental than the laws instituted to deal with drink driving. They are essentially related to overall Government and EU policy, which clearly has no vision for the sustainability of rural communities.

Solutions are possible and not beyond the imagination of rural communities themselves, provided the policies necessary to encourage them are in place.

The Late Late Show did a huge disservice to the campaign to lower the deaths on our roads.

It also did a huge disservice to rural communities by suggesting they should be allowed leeway on this law so that rural services such as the pub can continue, even at the risk of human life.

Seamus Boland

CEO

Irish Rural Link

Moate Business Centre

Moate

Co Westmeath