Road safety group criticises drink driving conviction rate

The figures, covering the period from January 2013-May 2015, show that there were only 6,709 convictions for drink driving out of around 20,000 cases before district courts.

In a number of courts, the licence numbers of convicted drink drivers were not recorded.

Courts in Co Kerry had the lowest recorded conviction rate over the period at 29 per cent, while the highest was in Offaly at 68 per cent.

In the first five months of 2015 alone, the total conviction rate was 28 per cent.

The figures may include cases which have not yet been concluded, the justice department has warned.

However, they were condemned by road safety group Parc, which called for “a root and branch examination of how the courts and the RSA follow up on the good work of An Garda Síochána”.

The group has also called for a “consolidation” of the Road Traffic Actsto simply road traffic rules and close loopholes.