Publicans: Bus our customers in
Publicans will call today for buses for customers who cannot drive because of the Garda’s strict breath-testing campaign.
Gardaí arrested 367 people on suspicion of drink driving in the seven-day period up to last Sunday.
The Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) will meet the Oireachtas Transport Committee today to discuss extending the Rural Transport Initiative to ferry rural customers to pubs in the evening.
The VFI has argued that people in small communities are unwilling to use their cars to travel to their local pubs and it is cutting them off from a vital social link.
Motorists may also be nervous about driving on the morning after socialising because of roadside checkpoints, it added.
The Rural Transport Initiative was established in 2002 to provide passenger services for people to get from remote areas to their local towns.
The extension of the scheme to include pub patrons has been supported in the past by Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon O Cuiv.
Mandatory breath-testing was introduced by the Transport Department last July and was credited with a 30% reduction in road deaths for 2006.
