Lowry suggests drink laws cause of rural isolation

Independent TD Michael Lowry has suggested that over-stringent enforcement of the drink-driving laws is having a damaging effect on rural communities.

Mr Lowry suggested that the traffic laws were being strictly applied due to media pressure but that the authorities' inflexibility was jeopardising the goodwill and co-operation of the public.

He said gardaí and the Minister for Justice would be expected to apply the same level of vigilance in other areas at a time when murders, robberies and personal assaults were going unsolved.

While he was against drink-driving, Mr Lowry said the elderly in particular sensed growing isolation in rural communities.

Referring to parts of his North Tipperary constituency, he said: "Over the Christmas period, numerous people have told me that many people living alone feel afraid to drive and are effectively confined to their homes.

"More and more people are questioning the fairness and necessity for mid-morning random testing."

The former Fine Gael TD said that over the past decade, rural communities had become more isolated as local post offices and creameries were disappearing and many small churches now had only one weekly service.

"For many in these places the pub is now their only point of contact during the week. Now this is being taken away from them as they are afraid to go to their local pub even for one or two drinks as they have to drive home."

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil TD Joe Callanan has claimed that one in three rural pubs in east Co Galway has closed in the past 12 months.

Mr Callanan, who said the figure came from a recent survey he carried out, proposed the establishment of a "nite-link" bus service to ensure that pubs could remain focal points for isolated communities.

"We were shocked to realise so many had closed in such a short space of time," he said. "This is not an initiative to boost the sale of alcohol in pubs.

"The local pub is an important social meeting point and for many of my constituents and for many people, especially the elderly, it is the primary social outlet."