Drink drivers in the midlands will be immediately sentenced to seven days in jail, with effect from December, a District Court judge has said.
Judge John Neilan says he will put all guilty drivers behind bars for the duration while he deliberates over their punishment.
Judge Neilan announced his get-tough policy at Mullingar District Court yesterday, saying it will take effect in December.
If the move is not challenged by the High Court, Judge Neilan will proceed with the move in a bid to rid Ireland of what he calls "the tragedy" of road deaths and injuries.
Earlier this week he said shocking television advertisements depicting horrific crashes were not working because no-one was paying any heed to them.
He revealed his plans during a case against a Mullingar man who was driving just under three times the legal limit.
He invited the defendant, Shane Foley (26), of Brookfield, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, to explain why he thought people should die or be maimed because he drove with drink on him.
"Why should I be left in a wheelchair, why I should I be put in a bed, why should a child of five or six years of age end up in a graveyard?" asked Judge Neilan.
(There was no accident in the case against Mr Foley.)
For his part, defending solicitor Mr Louis Kiernan said his client was not a repeat offender and was the kind of person who appeared before a court but once in a lifetime.
Judge Neilan adjourned Mr Foley's case to December 9th, when he would remand him in jail for seven days.
The judge said he had witnessed the "trials, traumas and tribulations" of families whose lives were ruined by road accidents caused by drink drivers. In two other drink driving cases before him yesterday, Mr Neilan imposed €2,000 fines on two men, and handed down driving bans of two years and five years respectively.