On this mornings Déise Today, Damien was talking to Niall O'Connor, Irish Daily Mail crime reporter to discuss the story about possible exemptions for people who are on a drink driving ban for work purposes. This proposal has been met with huge backlash from people as they believe that its ridiculous that such a proposal could even be comprehended. Throughout the show on Déise Today on Tuesday we had people texting in saying that this proposal is maddening and that it doesn't take into account people who may have lost friends and family in drink driving incidents. The proposal was first put forward by junior transport minister Brendan Griffin. He had asked officials to study a system currently operating in New Zealand.
Applicants for a limited licence in New Zealand have to apply to a court and prove that not being able to drive causes extreme hardship to themselves or undue hardship to someone else, such as an employer or dependents.
However this was shot down by Minister for Transport Shane Ross as he said that "Absolutely no question of countenancing any idea of exempting anyone. This idea is a non-runner, If the vinters want to suggest ways of stopping driving drinking alcohol, let’s hear them, The Bill will not be amended. No exceptions. We have introduced lifesaving legislation. We will not be diluting it".
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that his initial sense is that he’d be “sceptical about it as a proposal that’s workable”.
“If someone is banned from driving they’re banned for a reason. If you were to make an exception around travelling to and from work I’d wonder about the enforceability of that.
We also had Christina Donnelly, a road safety campaigner who has lost her son to a drink driving incident on to also discuss this as well.
You can listen to that interview here
https://soundcloud.com/wlrfmwaterford/deise-today-5th-march-should-there-be-exemptions-for-people-on-a-drink-driving-ban-for-work
You can watch the full show here as well!
https://soundcloud.com/wlrfmwaterford/deise-today-tuesday-5th-march-2019?in=wlrfmwaterford/sets/deise-today-2019
