Southwest Ireland is attempting to relax its drink-drive limits, as a recent motion was passed by Kerry county councillors to allow permits for overriding the legal drinking limit.
According to BBC, Councillor Danny Healy-Rae proposed the motion and intended it to be for older people who are being isolated now at home. Many of these people, he said, are falling into depression.
Healy-Rae is referring to those who live in rural parts of Ireland where there is no public transportation. Those in rural areas end up at home looking at the four walls because they don't want to risk losing their license by going out and drinking.
He argued that the roads they drive on are desolate, and you could safely drive on them after having a couple of drinks.
I see the merit in having a stricter rule of law for when there's a massive volume of traffic and where there's busy roads with massive speed, Healy-Rae said. But on the roads I'm talking about, you couldn't do any more than 20 or 30 mph and it's not a big deal.
On Monday afternoon, the motion was passed by five votes to three. There were seven abstentions and 12 councillors were absent for the vote.
Though a number of the councillors are reportedly pub owners, Healy-Rae denied it had any influence over the vote.
Now the council is waiting for the justice department to implement the change.
