A blitz on young male drivers in Kerry over the next eight Saturdays began today after an analysis of the first six months of the year found men, aged between 21 and 30, were more likely to drink drive than any other group.
Garda Chief Superintendent Dave Sheahan told a meeting of the Kerry's Joint Policing Committee in Tralee that the figures had come as "a shock".
He said it put paid to the "myth" that younger drivers had got the message about drink driving, and that it was older age groups who offended.
One-third, or 51, of those found to be driving while intoxicated by gardaí up to the end of June were between the ages of 21 and 30 - some 46 of these were male and five were female drivers; a further 34 intoxicated drivers were between the ages of 31 and 40 and six of these were female.
Across the seven age groupings, men were more likely to drink drive, but this was not a surprise the meeting was told.
Some 151 people were detected by gardaí as being intoxicated in the first six months of 2016 - a 13% increase on the same period in 2015.
Of these 134 were men.
Most crime, including burglaries, had dramatically fallen in Kerry and gardaí were concerned about the rise in driving while intoxicated, Chief Supt Sheahan outlined.
The 21-30 age group males were nine-times more likely to be caught drink driving than their female counterparts, according to the analysis presented yesterday.
Some nine people, all of them males, detected driving drunk were under the age of 20 in the period to the end of June.
The common perception was that it was only older age groups who persisted in drink driving, Supt Sheahan said. And it was very disappointing to learn that the message had not got through to the younger age groups.
Weekend nights, particularly Saturday, were also worse and gardaí from all units, not just traffic, were stamping down on it over the next eight Saturdays into the early hours in Kerry, he said.
This was not to catch people but to deter a practice that was leading to deaths.
The surprise figures "put paid to the myth" that younger drivers were responsible.
"One would have thought drink driving was not acceptable to the younger people. That they had got the message. But this seems not to be the case," Chief Supt Sheahan said.
He reminded the meeting that nationally "64%" of all drivers involved in fatal accidents had alcohol taken.
"It has to stop. For the next eight Saturdays in Kerry if anyone wants to try it, they will be caught," he warned.
Two men found drink driving were in the 71-80 age bracket, ten between the ages of 61 and 70; 15 were between the ages of 51 and 60 and some 24 between the ages of 41 and 50.
The council's youngest councillor Fianna Fáil's John Francis Flynn, 25, who represents South and West Kerry said something needed to be done about the isolation of older single men in rural Ireland.
Older people who would have two or three drinks were no longer going out, they were in such fear of being detected and they were getting depressed.
He called for a community bus to be considered.
Sinn Féin Cllr Diane Nolan said the advertising campaigns were targeting younger people already and a rethink was necessary, and perhaps ways of communicating with the under 30s.
Labour's Graham Spring wondered if this was a national trend, but the figures for other divisions were not available yesterday.
