The top civil servant in the Department of Health and Children criticised the Road Safety Authority (RSA) in a letter to his Department of Transport counterpart last year because the agency was not specifically urging a new alcohol limit for drivers of 50mg/100ml instead of the existing 80mg/100ml.
"Setting a legal limit of 50mg/100ml will endorse the message that consuming alcohol and driving are a lethal cocktail resulting in tragic consequences for far too many individuals and families in this country," Department of Health secretary general Michael Scanlan told Department of Transport secretary general Julie O'Neill in a letter dated July 27th, 2007.
Although his department had been involved in consultations with the RSA about the new Road Safety Strategy 2007-2011, Mr Scanlan was "disappointed" that the 50mg level was not being recommended.
"While the Road Safety Authority has recommended a reduction in the BAC (blood alcohol concentration) in the new strategy, it has fallen short of mentioning the new recommended level. I am disappointed that the RSA has not identified the lower BAC of 50mg/100ml as the target they have in mind.
"I would strongly advocate for the 50mg level to be included in the new Road Safety Strategy given its potential to save more lives and reduce injuries on our roads," Mr Scanlan wrote.
When the strategy was publicly announced last October by RSA chairman Gay Byrne, in the presence of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, the question of selecting a new blood-alcohol concentration level was left to an expert advisory group.
Fine Gael transport spokesman Fergus O'Dowd, who obtained the Scanlan-O'Neill letter under the Freedom of Information Act, yesterday accused the Minister of "political cowardice", claiming Mr Dempsey was postponing a decision until after the local and European elections of June 2009.
"The fact that the Minister chose to put this issue out to yet another expert review group is clearly a delaying mechanism," Mr O'Dowd said.
Two expert groups had already recommended the 50mg level.
Mr O'Dowd pointed out that current RSA chief executive Noel Brett, then an executive with the Western Health Board, had sat on one of these review groups. The authority advisory panel will issue its report in the first half of this year but the Fine Gael spokesman pointed out that its recommendations would not be implemented until the second quarter of 2009.
"The 50mg limit could be introduced in a matter of days and there is absolutely no reason to put it off to 2009.
"A similar measure in France resulted in a reduction of about 20 per cent in road fatalities," Mr O'Dowd said.
"The debate is over, " Mr Brett said. The Cabinet had approved a reduction in the BAC level as recommended in the strategy and it was the task of the authority to recommend what that level should be.
"The populist thing to do is to pick a level and introduce it. You have got to pick a level that is enforceable," Mr Brett added. The hand-held testing devices used by members of the Garda Síochána would have to be recalibrated to the new level.
At present it was expected that legislation for the new level would be on the statute book by the second quarter of 2009 but Mr Brett said that, with all-party support, it could be done in a shorter period.
A spokeswoman for the Minister said: "When the new Road Safety Strategy was published in October, the Minister said publicly that his own preference would be for a 50mg limit, but sensibly he wants to wait for the expert group to report before he takes any action.
"In the area of road safety he is not afraid to take the difficult decisions if those decisions will save lives. The issue of lowering the blood alcohol limit has nothing to do with the local elections."
A Department of Health spokeswoman said the department had welcomed the publication of the strategy.
"We look forward to the results of the review being undertaken for the Road Safety Authority on the most appropriate new lower blood alcohol concentration level for Ireland.
Ireland and the UK are the only EU states still maintaining the 80mg level.
