A national public debate was needed on the "drinking culture" in the State, the Garda National Traffic Bureau has said.
Supt Tom Murphy was speaking after Garda figures showed a substantial increase in the number of detections for drink driving over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Drink-driving offences rose from 166 in 2000 to 278 last week. Supt Murphy described the figures as "startling results and a worrying trend". He said there had been a 75 per cent increase since last year in the number of people arrested for drink driving on their way to work.
Chief Supt Denis Fitzpatrick, director of the Garda National Traffic Bureau, said on RTE radio there appeared to be a "national denial when it comes to discussing the alcohol abuse issue". Public commentators did not seem to engage each other in the issue, he said.
Supt Murphy said drinking was a part of Irish culture, and this often led to problems - a lot of which ended up in the District Court.
"Around 40 to 60 per cent of a District Court's business is connected with excessive drinking," said Supt Murphy, and this was a feature in any District Court throughout the State. The offences include public order offences, drink driving, domestic abuse, and family problems.
He was particularly concerned about the increase in drink-driving detections. "Someone is six times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident if they drink," he said. Half of the deaths on the roads occur between 8 p.m. on Friday and 7 a.m. on Monday morning and a public debate on the drinking culture would "raise the profile" of the issue.
Last weekend, there was increased Garda enforcement around the State in an effort to curb the number of fatal accidents. Supt Murphy said there would be increased enforcement every weekend in the future.
In the first half of this year, gardai detected 6,260 drink-driving offences.