“It is disgraceful.”
A road safety campaigner has called for Minister of State for disability issues Finian McGrath to resign from his position following his comments about the implementation of drink driving laws over the weekend.
Aisling Reid of PARC road safety group said that McGrath’s apology is not enough and he should resign from his position.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Seán O’Rourke Show, she said: “It is disgraceful what he said. It was shocking. Withdrawing his statement is not enough, he should resign.”
In an interview with the Sunday Independent, McGrath said the implementation and policing of new drink driving laws had been “really over the top”.
“To me the breathalysing time should be at pub closing time between 12am and 2am in the morning. That’s where the focus should be so I don’t know what agenda is going on there,” he said.
“Some of them don’t like the new laws, yes I suspect that is part of the angle, and they are saying ‘well blame the Government’ and I don’t like that,” he added.
He said he would like Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to “de-politicise anything like that in a police force”.
McGrath withdrew his comments after the publication of the newspaper on Sunday.
In a statement on Monday morning, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) said the withdrawal of McGrath’s “unwarranted charge of political policing” was “welcome and necessary”.
“Our members take their political independence very seriously and regard it as a key reason Gardaí command such a high level of public support.
“For clarification, Gardaí carry out Mandatory Intoxication Test checkpoints (MITs) under management instruction in accordance with the Road Traffic Act and do not set up MIT checkpoints under their own recognisance.
“The GRA welcomes Minister McGrath’s acknowledgement that his charges have no basis and will not be commenting further on this matter at this time.”
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