A government minister’s rubbishing claims from a Fianna Fail backbencher that one drink won’t do any harm and can relax drivers.

Tipperary North TD Mattie McGrath told the Lunchtime Show with Eamon Keane here on Newstalk yesterday that city dwellers don’t understand the rural perspective when it comes to the drink driving debate.

Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs – Eamon O’Cuiv – told the programme today that he strongly disagrees with Deputy McGrath’s comments on driving after taking a drink – but he conceded that there is a major problem with the social aspect of drink driving for those living in rural areas.

“If you took all of the night time transport away in the urban areas and said to people ‘now the drink-driving law is 50 (milligrams)’, I think you would get outrage”  he said.

“We have to be cleaver here; we’re putting €11 million into rural transport and we have to make those services useful for the public -and we have to come up with a safe way of socialising”.