A Limerick garda has responded to comments made by a junior minister about the numbers of gardaí assigned to road policing units.
The minister with responsibility for road safety, Jack Chambers, told the he was concerned about insufficient numbers of gardaí assigned to road policing.
He has “repeatedly” raised the matter with both Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and wants to see road policing units beefed up. Greater numbers will ensure there is an “increased perception of enforcement among motorists”, he said.
However, Inspector Padraig Sutton, who runs Limerick’s Roads Policing Unit said: “Enforcement is not the silver-bullet solution here”.
Insp Sutton was speaking during the ongoing Easter weekend garda road safety awareness campaign, which began on Thursday and runs until 7am on Tuesday.
At least 141 people have been detained on suspicion of driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol since last Thursday, according to gardaí.
In that time, the death toll on Irish roads has also gone from 50 to 58.
During a traffic stop in Limerick, one driver did a u-turn and tried to avoid being stopped but gardaí gave chase and he was subsequently detained.
Insp Sutton said the latest figures were “alarming”.
“Since the operation began, we have had 141 detained on suspicion of driving while intoxicated,” he said.
“We are out there and doing our best and trying to reverse the trends.”
Insp Sutton warned: “No matter what you are doing on the road, you need to take care of yourself and think about the fact that your actions have consequences.”
He said bank holiday weekends were one of the periods where road users were at the highest risk of being involved in a fatal or serious road traffic collision.
The risk of a fatal or serious injury collision is highest between 3pm and 6pm during the Easter bank holiday weekends, while Easter Saturday is the highest risk day for a fatal or serious injury collision.
The latest road death involved the death of a teenage boy, who died after a collision with a driver on the N17 in Mayo on Saturday.
St Coleman’s College student Vikaris Gudaitis was killed about 1km from a triple tragedy just days previously.
Donegal woman Una Carlin Bowden and daughters, Ciara, 14, and Saoirse, 9, died when their vehicle collided with a truck on the N17 outside Claremorris, Co Mayo, last week.