MEP calls for more mandatory drug-driving checkpoints
THE NUMBER of garda checkpoints in Carlow and Kildare fell by almost 44% between 2024 and 2025, according to figures from the Garda Pulse system. In the third quarter of 2024 there were 782 mandatory intoxication testing (MIT) checkpoints conducted by gardaí across the Carlow-Kildare district, compared with 439 in the third quarter of 2025.
There were also significantly more MIT checkpoints in Carlow and Kildare conducted in the first two quarters of 2025, at 689 and 676 respectively.
Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, who is a member of the EU Transport Committee, has called on the minister for transport and garda management to increase the number of MIT checkpoints at a time when 188 people were killed on Irish roads in 2025.
“Gardaí carried out thousands more roadside alcohol and drug checkpoints in 2019 than they did in 2025. The figures speak for themselves. In 2019, we had 140 deaths, but in 2025 we had 185 deaths,” said Ms Ní Mhurchú.
“Drug-driving is out of control, but now gardaí are testing less people, meaning the drug-driving figures I recently received from the courts service are only the tip of the iceberg.”
The figures Ms Ní Mhurhcú is referring to are in relation to figures from the Irish Courts Service that were supplied to her before Christmas, which detailed that there was a 37% increase in the number of people who faced district court proceedings for drug-driving in the first ten months of 2025 compared with 2024.
Ms Ní Mhurchú continued: “Those figures show a 37% increase in cases coming before our district courts for drug-driving in the first ten months of 2025. This should be evidence enough for gardaí to launch a massive increase in drug and drink-driving checkpoints – but they have done the opposite and reduced them. I want to know the rationale for it. If it is a resource issue, let’s deal with it, but it must be pointed out that there were more gardaí in 2025 than there were in 2019.”
Over the St Brigid’s bank holiday weekend, from the morning of Thursday 29 January to Tuesday 3 February, gardaí carried out a road safety and traffic enforcement campaign, during which every member of An Garda Síochána on duty was out conducting road traffic enforcement activity, in addition to dedicated bank holiday checkpoints.
