Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is proposing a complete alcohol ban for drivers with provisional licences and those who have been on a full licence for less than two years.
Mr Kenny wants the standard blood-alcohol limit of 0.8 milligrams reduced to 0.2 milligrams for drivers in this category.
The 0.2 milligrams limit is necessary to allow for those who have taken medication like cough mixture. "Drink-driving is a major factor in over a third of all fatal crashes. Inexperienced drivers regardless of their age are a higher-risk. Add alcohol and it's a lethal combination," said Mr Kenny last night.
He added that young drivers were particularly susceptible to the effects of alcohol and studies had shown that the current legal limit of 0.8 milligrams makes a driver in the 18-34 age bracket three times more likely to crash than if they had no alcohol.
"Therefore, I'm proposing the immediate introduction of the 0.2 level for every provisional licence holder and those on a full licence for less than two years, regardless of their age.
"Many inexperienced drivers have already taken the responsible, zero-alcohol approach. But there is a hard-core minority risking their own lives and threatening the lives of others.
"A zero alcohol level would send the right message to those inexperienced drivers. In Ireland 2006, you cannot drink and drive. Tough medicine now will save lives in the future," said the Fine Gael leader.
He added that if a zero limit was imposed and enforced rigidly, particularly through random testing, the likely offenders like boy-racers would be made to think again.
"The facts unfortunately confirm that nine out of 10 alcohol-related serious and fatal road crashes involve men. We must as a society do everything we can to prevent this pattern from continuing."
Meanwhile, Labour Party spokeswoman on Finance Joan Burton said an all-Ireland road safety strategy was required to cut road deaths, particularly in Border areas. Speaking at a party selection convention in Donegal, she said that the county had suffered more than most over the last year from horrific road accidents that had seen the lives of young people cut tragically short.
"Lives are being put at risk by motorists who are caught speeding on one side of the Border but go unpunished as their vehicles are registered on the other.
"Therefore, the Labour Party believes that immediate action on the synchronisation of penalty points North and South is required to reduce deaths along the Border.
"The Irish Government has repeatedly stated that under the British-Irish agreement, responsibility for taking the lead on the mutual recognition of penalty points rests with authorities in the North through the British-Irish Council. But with the Assembly and Executive in abeyance and the NIO either failing to, or disinterested in taking the lead on the matter, dangerous drivers are getting away scot-free," she said.
