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ARMY EXPERTS HAVE successfully dealt with a homemade bomb that was found outside a house in Tallaght in Dublin this evening.
The Army Bomb Disposal Team were called to the house in Jobstown at about 5.50 pm after being informed by gardaí that a member of the public had found the device.
A cordon and road closures were put in place in the Glenshane area where the device was found and a number of houses were evacuated.
The team assessed the viable device and it was made safe without the need for a controlled explosion.
The device was then brought to a secure military location where it is to be examined until it is handed over to gardaí.
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One drink is too much, 0 alcohol in ur system If you wanna drive.
@G: I think the main gripe people have is it being such a low tolerance level that it can cause even light drinkers to be over the limit the next day
Yes easy to say for a fool whos a walking distance from his local.
@Deirdre Meehan: the only fool here is the one saying it’s ok to drive drunk.
@Only here for the comments: and the 24 people who agreed with her
@themansam: I guess 24 thumbs = motion passed. Isn’t that how rural voting works? The publican usually gets elected, as I recall. Again, I’ll say: Irish roads are safer when people are not driving while drunk. I don’t care how far you live from the pub, don’t drink and drive.
@5hbeZh0I: most people that drink the night before now tent not to drive the next day
@Only here for the comments: isn’t it a strange thing that road deaths so far this year are higher than last year, even with the new law in place. What will the situation be attributed to, I wonder.
@Liam Mernagh: the fact that every year more people join our roads tha leave them. That and speed.
@Deirdre Meehan: so your reasoning is that because people live far from a pub they should be allowed to drink and drive?
@5hbeZh0I: Please do explain how a light drinker could be over the limit the next day?, light drinker as is 5 pints?…..pal that ain’t light drinking trust me.
@Only here for the comments: 50-80mg/100ml is hardly considered drunk though.. no body is saying drunk drivers should be allowed drive. A tad of common sense is needed here…
@John O Brien: Well said! Why do people insist on dealing with the extremes only?!
@Deirdre Meehan: Whether it’s easy or not doesn’t matter. Your convenience isn’t more important than people lives. Talk about entitlement. Grow up.
@Janet McGowan: Exactly it’s all about and acceptable risk and acceptable curbs on lifestyle. If we were that precious about lives on the road we’d Benn driving when temperatures fall below freezing, close motorways in foggy conditions, etc, but we don’t because if we did it would be too great a hindrance. If some minister did so and we complained the same fools would be braying ‘So you want to drive on icy roads and kill people do you?”
@Jono: that’s ok if you can travel by tent.
@John O Brien: Common sense in these comment columns? You joking?
Lord Ross is too busy winning world titles to care about what the rest of us are at!
@Kevin Geraghty: He is trying to save lives what part of no driving while over the limit do you people not get?, I can see how you keep voting for corrupt morons down the country you seen to struggle with basic logic.
@Peter Hughes: And failing miserably at it!! As mentioned above, 50-80mg/100 would be hardly classed as “drunk”, if it is then there’s been a serious cultural swing in the country with regards to alcohol consumption…common sense needed, not exaggerations!!
He’s trying to get re-elected. Nothing more.
Has to be zero tolerance but has to a scheme in rural areas where the pub is sometimes the hub of socialising and important to counter isolation and loneliness. Maybe a heavily subsidised bus. The benefits would out way the cost to the taxpayers.
@Greedylocks: Perhaps, however I suspect most would even balk at paying a single euro for that, especially a family dynasty with an interest in a pub in Kerry. They’d want the rest of the country to subsidise this, to ensure the law is abided of course, and not to maintain their profit margins. Perish the thought.
The fact is if any one of us wish to go out and take a drink it’s our individual responsibility to ensure we don’t drive having consumed any alcohol. It’s nobody’s else’s responsibility.
@Arch Angel: totally agree, but we need an outbreak of common sense here. Has to be zero tolerance but with practical solutions that will respect victims families and provide realistic options for those who need pubs as a point of social contact.
@Greedylocks: for some reason, people don’t seem to understand that you can go to the pub and NOT have any alcohol
@Only here for the comments: it’s kinda generic Irish thing. Realistic remedies for real problems. Absolute zero tolerance. Prohibition those not work unless you offer a workable solution.
@Greedylocks: here’s a workable solution: if you’re going to drive, don’t drink alcohol. Please tell me what’s so difficult about that?
@Greedylocks: generic Irish thing really like we greet each every day with “top of the morning to ya” cop on a bit
@Only here for the comments: agree but values don’t reflect reality.
@Only here for the comments: where both on the same hymn sheet.
@Greedylocks: what about going to the pub and drinking soft drinks or coffee ?
@Greedylocks: You do realize you can go to a pub and not drink alcohol don’t you?
Couple of tips when using the pub as a local hub to avoid the desperate loneliness outlined:
A) Tea or Coffee
B) Soft drink
C) Still or Sparkling Water
D) Food if available
E) Non alcoholic beer
You can actually have any number of combination of the above, chat with the local punters, and feel free to jump in your car at any point and drive home, even give a lift to a friend who has had a pint!
People who say ‘oh but the pub is the heart of rural Ireland, what about the people who have no social outlet except the pub?’ how about people continue to go to the pub, but don’t have any alcohol if they’re driving? Nobody said that alcohol was mandatory for those feeling disenfranchised. Have a soft drink, or maybe a non alcoholic beer. Please, someone , debate me on this.
@Only here for the comments: Ah yes. Theres no better feeling after a tough week than to head now to the local, knock back a few 7ups and blow off a bit of steam. It’s the exact same thing as a few pints really.
@Only here for the comments: because nobody wants to go to the pub and not have a drink no matter how you dress it up. Jesus Christ woman I think you are “disenfranchised” from the psyche of the everyday rural working person. Best of luck in the rest of you Leaving cert
@John kane: and before you ask, I have completely assumed your gender!
@Damien: non alcoholic beer might be the way to go for drivers in pubs. Time we eliminated the woeful accident rate now!
@Damien: pints aren’t medicine. Of you’re using alcohol in that way then get professional help.
@Dave O’Keeffe: Give it a rest…Get professional help. If that were the case, 80% of the people in the country would need help.
@Dave O’Keeffe: Ah yes they are, my local is a drinking consultant and gives me the best medical advice.
@Damien: well, as a nation we do have a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Funny thing I previous weekends alcohol is a massive contributor to the steam you need to blow off the next weekend.
@Only here for the comments: How about subsidised public transport , as there is in Dublin?
Drink and drive you lose your license. End off. Drink driving kills
@themansam: Does it though? I know a shitload of people who at one stage or another drove while completely bladdered and I don’t know anyone who has killed someone through this. I know plenty of people who have died in car crashes which involved speeding though. Not saying drink driving is the lesser of two evils but if we applied the same level of taboo to speeders or tired people maybe we have better results on road deaths….
@EdmundOrlando: You’re a brave man making a comment like that around these parts. But I still know many people who have their pints and drive. It’s more common than people think.
@EdmundOrlando: it’s kills or carries the threat of killing. Just like walking around with a loaded gun
@EdmundOrlando: this has to be one of the most idiotic comments I’ve read here and that’s saying something. Heroin kills, I’ve seen people that take it but none of them died, therefore it must be a myth and heroin doesn’t kill. That’s the mentality of your comment. I’ve never seen it happen so it mustn’t be true. Get real…there’s enough adverts with broken families as a result of fatal collisions due to drunk drivers for u to know better
@EdmundOrlando: 100% agree. I drive a taxi and after a heavy 10 hour shift I am more dangerous on my way home due to tiredness than I would ever be after 3 pints. It begs the simply question how am I going to kill you driving at 28 mph home from the pub after having 4 pints. Very unlikely. But I can easily kill you driving home from the pub at 50 mph after having 2 cokes. Not the drink it’s the speed.
@Damien: is it worth killing someone because you had alcohol taken when you were driving? What’s the acceptable level of carnage before it becomes anti social anyone?
@TheGrey Gimp: You have a very valid point regarding driving while tired, commercial heavy vehicle drivers wouldn’t be allowed do it for that reason. I wonder if it may come into effect for everyone, or if by then we’ll have self driving cars. Who knows?
You have acknowledged the statistics, which are that if you were to drive having taken a drink you’re far more likely to be in an accident. About 38% of all fatalities have had a drink. So you’re not wrong in that regard, if anyone drinks and drives they take an enormous risk. With the lives of everyone they come into contact with, and themselves. In really isn’t worth it.
Drink driving dose not kill nor dose speeding. It stupid drivers whom are completely wasted or drivers speeding whom pay no attention or whom are comfort speeding.
My village had half dozen pubs all with big carparks no one ever died in my village.
@Life is short enjoy it: Typical idiotic comment. Drink driving is never OK. You and your country bumpkin mates need to get that through your skulls.
@Only here for the comments: your the uneducated clown. If you think treating people that live in the countryside that way you prove that your some moron.
@Elizabeth Barry: are you defending driving drunk?
@Elizabeth Barry: are u seriously defending drunk driving?
@Life is short enjoy it: idiotic comment. Would your tone change if one of your kids or family gets killed by a drunk driver.
@Brian O’Leary: You could use the same argument against driving in general and no one is talking about banning that. The are always tradeoffs between safety and convenience in life
@Life is short enjoy it: Did they learn how to spell in your village?
@Only here for the comments: gway yould bollix , you are obviously some sort of holier than thou puritan, you want the entire population of rural Ireland to become teetotal shut ins with no social life or sense of community? And before you suggest tofu barbeques or buses that would take all night to drop people down the small boreens to their doors, that is not the culture of this country. Not for a minute advocating driving after a load of drink but there are sensible levels, everyone knows that and being trapped in the house the next day after a few drinks even though you are fine is a joke.
get outta town… Shane Ross is a tyrant with a thirst for power and control….. there’s a compromise in there somewhere for rural Ireland.. Ross should either put up or shutup and offer cheap fare to rural folk who take a drink.
@EdmundOrlando: Or. And hear me out here, because it’s a bit ‘out there’. Perhaps people who have no other option to get home from the pub other than driving a car could maybe (maybe) just consider not having an alcoholic drink? I know – it’s a crazy suggestion, but, y’know….maybe?
@Only here for the comments: I’m guessing you live in a city. People like a few pints, it’s easy in the city, bus, luas, dart, taxi.
@Peter Brophy: and dont forget the street lights and footpaths too
@Only here for the comments: Anyone that cant have 5 or 6 pints and drive home safely shouldn’t have a licence in the first place
Can we not just all agree that this article is a pr stunt by minister Ross’s PR machine to portray him in a positive light following his idiotic performance at Katie Taylor’s homecoming at Dublin airport? The drink driving argument is a no brainier distraction.
@John Brophy: I would say its more the opposite, Ross never gets any good coverage as far as I can see, its all negative and there is a reason for it. Independents are a serious treat to the system in this country, they are taking lots FF and FG votes….that must be stopped by all means necessary and who better to help that than the FF and FG ran media.
I studied and lived in rural Ireland for four years. All of the students who had cars and drank which was common crashed or landed their car in a ditch. Two friends were very badly injured by a local drunk driver and lucky to survive with the driver escaping punishment as he left the scene. While I empathize with rural drinkers you can’t share the road with responsible motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.
I am celt from Brittany where we love our drinks too…. But I must say that globally Ireland has a culture of over the limit drinking which baffles me! Drink driving is a killer like it or not and on this point those who are not happy with the minister are wrong! “if you need a car to go to the pub, don’t drink alcohol but soft drink, beer without alcohol or tea! For god sake it’s not that difficult!
The effects of a small amount of alcohol in your system are overstated. The likelihood you’ll be in a collision is less than if you drove on a back road instead of the motorway. You’d be in more danger jumping on a motorbike than getting in a car after a pint or even two. Zero tolerance is just so people don’t try to find a balance. It’s to kerb the guy having 10 pints and getting in a car, a completely reckless act. But losing your licence for one pint seems like overkill and also unlikely to stop the worst drink drivers. I could be wrong. It’s a difficult subject. The sooner we have driverless cars the better.
There’s seems to be a serious disconnect with many in this country who have no issue taking to the national airwaves or the internet when they perceive violent criminals or sex offenders getting a light sentence.
Yet tell them that the law is going to give them what they want, anyone caught getting behind the wheel of a car with drink taken will lose their license and they lose their collective minds. Because the law isn’t supposed to apply to them. It’s supposed to apply to those gurriers and kiddie fiddlers, not fine upstanding citizens who’s only crime is to have a few drinks and drive home. They know when they’re fit to drive, they’ve been doing it for years. And this is the problem. This arrogant idiocy is responsible for 38% of all deaths on our roads, it should be slapped down and not even given the time of day.
@Arch Angel: cognitive dissonance is a serious problem in Ireland, and its not limited to road traffic law
@Arch Angel: The country is riddled with morons that is why.
Until he addresses the issue of rural transport he should revoke this law very easy fir large towns or city people to access pubs etc but small rural community with no public transport rely on car to get them to the town for a couple of pints probably the only bit of social interaction they get.and judging the way the Minister enjoyed the Katie Taylor social interaction you would think he would understand the plight of the rural community.
In rural Ireland it’s over the top but the holier than god people will disagree as usual
Rural Ireland will not suffer. I have gone down the country and have gone to pubs with live trad session, people havinh pots of tea, reading their book and just enjoying the music. I get people enjoy their pints after work and to enjoy themselves but the pub can be used as a local community hub. Not just a place to get drunk.
They’re Tuff as Nails on Drink Driving in Aus.
That and Police Speed traps on nearly every major road.
Some call it Revenue Raising but the vast majority call it “Saving People’s Lives”
More people now drink at home which is a health risk as they are afraid, less people spending money locally ,more rural isolation, higher drug use due to people drinking and more local business closing as a knock on effect e.g pubs, taxi and chippers.
Well done Shane Ross rural Ireland is destroyed
Ffs,4 young lives lost that i knew in donegal and they want to allow drink driving..one drink is too many end of
Ah look, as a resident of rural Ireland I can see both sides of this argument. However, my gripe here is with that clown Ross. First off, I’m unsure as to whether it’s ok to publish all of those correspondence for political gain. Second, this pillor of the system is not quite so immune to lobbying when it’s his local hockey club. And yes I know that they, as the only sports club in the area looking for a grant meant that technically they were entitled. It didn’t make it right though.
Over the top for rural Ireland but the holier than god people will disagree as usual
Are there any stats showing the blood alcohol levels of the driver in fatal collisions or crashes??
Snowflakes, have at least 3 pints a few days a week , walk home , but meet idiots on their phones etc flying by, love to see the real stats
Very easy argument to make that ‘any’ alcohol and you’re impaired and shouldn’t be driving. Am I to believe that anyone making that argument doesn’t have a radio in their car because you can be certain, people messing with radio buttons has caused countless deaths over the years even. Should we ban car passengers as they may be distracting to driver? Should we ban drivers over 65 also as age will impair motor reflexes, hearing and vision? Better yet should we ban driving altogether as that would have saved 149 lives in Ireland last year? Granted you shouldn’t be allowed drive drunk but zero tolerance is ridiculous. There is risk in everything we do. Common sense needs to be used as the negative effects of social isolation can easily outweigh the positives here.
@Hang 10 Shaka Brah: driving to
@Hang 10 Shaka Brah: driving to the pub, getting hammered, hopping back in the car and risking the life of everyone you pass is not combatting loneliness. Socialising doesn’t require alcohol. Pubs sell more than alcoholic drinks. The scenarios you state don’t come close to the risk of a drunk person behind the wheel blind with alcohol. If you’re seriously advocating drink driving perhaps discuss it with the relatives of the 290 people who have died over 4 years as a result of drink driving to get a real life perspective of the aftermath. It’s just not worth it.
@GrumpyAulFella: I see your point but you completely missed mine. My entire argument is against zero tolerance. Of course you shouldn’t be allowed drive drunk and I would be against that as you are. 50mg to 80mg is the subject in question here. Would you consider that drunk? Still waiting for the statistics on the deaths caused by people with 50-80mg in their system. And the argument that you don’t need to drink in the pub, in theory you’re correct but in reality people rarely go for nights out if they can’t have a few drinks. Its part of our culture. And no we shouldn’t drive home after them few, it’s lunch time the next morning that has everyone scared with these new rules.
Let the figures sink in. 290 people killed and 69 seriously injured in a 4 year period as a result of drink driving. Any clown advocating drink driving should consider the amount of people, family, relatives, friends impacted by above. The gombeen politician publicans should know better. If you’re going to drive then drink a non-alcoholic beer. Other than still being able to stand up straight, not puling, not getting into arguments and making a fool of yourself plus not having a hangover the next day, you won’t know the difference.
Why should we need to lobby????
Zero tolerance is the smartest way.
I see points on both sides, but what I fundamentally disagree with is subsidising buses for rural Ireland. If you choose to live in the country with lower rent & lower alcohol prices then you have to take the (lack of) facilities that go with that. Publicans should be paying for busses if they need it to make money and keep customers happy. We’re already footing the bill for your broadband.
He reminds me of the health inspector in the snapper with the baldy conscience on him. It’s a nappy!!!!
@John kane: in The Van but yeah. “Is it dirty?”, “No”, “Ah well then”.
Heineken ZERO is a good alternative.
No worries for Ross, he will publish the names in a new book and make money out of it.
If you chose to have a drink then don’t drive if you have to drive then don’t drink It driver responsible not to drive when impaired by drink drugs medicine tiredness or illness so we don’t impact or endanger other road users by our own selfishness
Drink 1 or 2 less pints and get a taxi home safer for everyone including the drinker
@Sheila Bedford:
very few taxies
Should be zero drink taking while drinking an all ban on it
have your say