Pubs need to change their business models rather than complain about drink-driving laws shutting down rural Ireland, the chief executive of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has said.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, Moyagh Murdock said pubs in rural areas must do more than sell alcohol to attract customers and dismissed a proposal for motorists to be allowed a permit to have two pints and drive as "nonsense".
"It's not all about the pub and that's what gets missed in all of this. I think a lot people say that the drink-driving measures have decimated the rural pub, but there's a lot of other problems in rural Ireland than just having four or five pubs in a village," Ms Murdock said.
"We don't have four or five butchers or four or five bakeries or four or five pharmacies.
"The pub is no different. The business model has to change, it has to be more than just alcohol to attract people into a pub. Drink-driving isn't the answer to that problem."
Ms Murdock was speaking in an interview before Christmas when the number of road deaths for 2019 stood at 143 and was already up on "two of the safest years" in 2017 and 2018.
Despite this figure increasing over the holidays, Ms Murdock said there was a lot less "acceptance and tolerance" of drink-driving and speeding in Irish society.
She said Government plans to introduce graduated speeding penalties - where the more a motorist exceeds the limit, the more severely they are punished - were welcomed by the RSA and dismissed the idea it was a further attack on people living outside cities.
"This is not an attack on rural Ireland, it's not an attack on any particular area of the country. It is trying to deter bad behaviour at the levels that cause death and serious injury," she said.
"So obviously, the penalties that are being proposed should be proportionate to change behaviour. We've seen that in the past, whenever penalty points were introduced for some offences, the immediate change in behaviour has really delivered the results."
The graduated speeding penalties proposal, championed by Transport Minister Shane Ross, has caused unease in Fine Gael, with some ministers and backbenchers hoping that a national speed limit review will delay the introduction of the new penalties.
Mr Ross also closed the loophole that allowed first-time drink-driving offenders to escape disqualification from the road despite a filibuster from some rural TDs.
Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae's proposal that rural drivers be given a permit to drink two pints and drive was "just nonsense", Ms Murdock said.
"I think rural Ireland is entitled to as safe roads as urban Ireland and that (proposal) can only lead to more deaths. I think in that context memories are very, very short. It's only 12 or 13 years ago that we saw 365 people a year being killed," she said.
"It's very understandable that rural TDs are arguing for better infrastructure, better transport and better connectivity, but not at the expense of road safety should they be proposing measures that allow people to drink and drive.
"It is proven repeatedly that any amount of alcohol impairs driving."
Ms Murdock said another Ross initiative, the national speed limit review, needs to be done for the benefit of local communities and road safety.
The proposal will allow members of the public to query or appeal against a speed limit in their area if they believe it is too high or too low.
"It's very important that it's not abused, that it is a privilege to be able to contribute to the review and it should be done for benevolent purposes as opposed to personal interest and financial gain. That is very important, that it's not open to abuse," she said.
The RSA is putting a greater emphasis on climate change in 2020, with a paper due to be published in the coming weeks linking road safety and cutting emissions. The RSA ultimately wants more people to use public transport - "probably the safest mode of transport", Ms Murdock said - but, if they must drive, to voluntarily reduce their speed below the limits.
"If you drop your speed you will make roads safer, but you'll also reduce the emissions by and large," she said. "Evidence shows that a 1pc reduction in speed leads to 4pc reduction in fatalities so that in itself would benefit road safety but also link it to the emissions."
In recent months, Ms Murdock's organisation has faced calls for it to be abolished from controversial ex-Fine Gael candidate Verona Murphy, who is also the president of the Irish Road Haulage Association.
The Government has dismissed the idea and the RSA boss refuted "completely" Ms Murphy's contention that the agency was not policing out-of- State hauliers proportionately compared with Irish operators. "We have the evidence to prove that," she added.
The current road safety strategy expires at the end of this year. Ms Murdock said 2020 will involve a big push to reduce road deaths from an average of 12 per month to 10.
"If we could tackle the drunk driving we would see 30 or 40 people a year saved on the roads, so it's crazy," she said. "People should just not be drinking and driving."
