ALCOHOL WARNING:THE GOVERNMENT should introduce legislation making it mandatory for people who are found guilty of drink-driving to attend for rehabilitation, public health specialists insisted yesterday.
Dr Declan Bedford said people come up with excuses to suggest they were just “unlucky” when caught drink-driving “not realising they have a problem” with alcohol. But the definition of having a drink problem included being caught drink-driving.
Speaking at the Irish Medical Organisation annual meeting, he said studies from Australia showed one-third of drink-drivers caught in a given year had been caught before.
“So there is a huge proportion of people who are repeat offenders and they obviously have a problem with alcohol, but they’re probably not doing anything about it,” he said.
“I think it should be at some stage made mandatory, at least for assessment, and then maybe when they get a bit of insight into their drinking and the problems it’s causing they might then be referred for rehabilitation.”
Dr Fenton Howell, also a public health doctor in the northeast, said people who were caught were rarely just over the limit. “Many people who are caught and prosecuted are significantly over the limit, so they do have a problem.”
Their motion, urging the Government to introduce the change, was amended however before it was passed unanimously at the meeting.
The amended motion said persons found guilty should go for mandatory assessment and be offered rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, delegates also agreed that all doctors outside the State giving advice, treatment or a diagnosis to Irish patients should be registered with the Irish Medical Council. This is not the case at present.
Former IMO president Dr Christine O’Malley said the concern arose because the IMO had been unable to establish whether smear tests sent to the US for analysis as part of the national cervical cancer screening programme were being reported on by registered doctors as the doctors concerned were not registered in Ireland.