Irish County Council Votes to Allow Drunk Driving – Really

Why Would They Do That – Well, Assume Those Voting in Favor Were Pub Owners - Oh, Okay

The inexplicable tolerance in America for drunk driving does not extend to much of the world, particularly Europe.  So it is truly newsworthy when a county legislature in Ireland votes to allow drunk driving.

Councillors  in rural Ireland have come up with a novel way of tackling the problem of drink driving – by making it legal. The plans backed by Kerry county council, in south-west Ireland, would allow police to issue permits that give permission for some people to have “two or three” alcoholic drinks and still drive.

Why would governing body do such a thing?  Well it’s for the children the old people

Councillor Danny Healy-Rae, who proposed the motion, said the new rules should apply to “older people” who live in isolated areas. He argued that current laws, which limit most drivers to no more than one drink, were forcing an older generation to stay home.

“All the wisdom and all the wit and all the culture that they had, the music and the singing, that’s all being lost to the younger generation because these older people might as well be living in Japan and Jerusalem,” 

Oh, ok, old people, people who maybe shouldn’t be driving at night anyway are being forced to stay home because they cannot get  liquored up and go dancing and singing.

Of course, that’s only a pretext isn’t it.  If one looks behind the scenes there is this.

There was also controversy over the fact that a number of councillors who approved the measure, including Mr Healy-Rae, are pub owners, and as such could benefit from the rule-change. Mr Healy-Rae denied that this had influenced the vote.

Right