Irishman Drives to a Bar...

Thanks to The BBC for this story which pointed me to this story from The Irish Journal which tells us that "Kerry County Councillors have voted in favour of a motion which would allow people in rural Ireland to have ‘two or three’ drinks and still drive."

Actually only five voted in favour - three voted against, seven abstained and twelve were absent so it was passed with about 18% support.

I guess this guy will be happy:

Lots of other people don't seem so sure though.

The main advocate for this move, Councillor Danny Healy-Rae, who proposed the motion, said it would apply to "older people" who "are being isolated now at home, and a lot of them falling into depression." Hmmmm. Drinkaware.co.uk tell us that "Alcohol alters the brain’s chemistry and increases the risk of depression." So surely the advice to these older people should be go out and have some non-alcoholic drinks.

Now to be fair to Danny-Boy and his four chums who voted with him, he's not saying they should go out and get absolutely ratted and then drive home, he is advocating a higher drink-drive limit for them.

It's still a major step backwards though and the more you think about it, the more non-sensical it seems. For example, would the Garda have to stop everyone they see driving away from the pub and take them in for blood tests after they fail a breathalyzer test to determine what limit they are at?

So why pass this anyway? Looks like the majority of the five are publicans. Here's the pub Danny runs:

Still, what could possibly go wrong?