Wicklow publicans join protest outside the Dáil

February 1995

Over 150 County Wicklow publicans were among the more than 4,000 from around the country to take part in last week’s Dáil protest march against controversial new drink-driving laws.

The rally was organised by the Vintners Federation of Ireland to highlight the threat which they believe the new legislation poses to thousands of jobs and to social life in rural Ireland.

A delegation from Wicklow met their local TDs and Senators in the Dáil to explain the ‘disastrous impact’ of the new laws on their trade. They urged the government to reduce and grade the penalties so that the ‘offence met the crime’, to introduce court discretion and restore the 100mg limit.

VFI president Michael Moloney claimed the new law was ‘oppressive’ and asked how legislators could justify ‘treating innocent, hard-working, law-abiding people as criminals’.

‘Two drinks is not a crime. Driving while drunk is. Yet this law makes no distinction. People are afraid to go out and visit their friends or family. They have become prisoners in their own homes,’ he said. ‘We have sympathy for the people who have lost family members because of drunk driving,’ he said. ‘We want to see the number of road accidents reduced or eliminated, but this law has gone too far.’

A delegation from the VFI presented petitions to the Minister for the Environment Brendan Howlin bearing over 100,000 signatures from people around the country supporting the change in the law.