Almost 1,000 Irish motorists were caught over the drink-driving limit in the first three weeks of the annual Christmas crackdown, according to Garda figures out today.
The campaign, which began at the end of last month, resulted in 331 arrests in the first week, 310 arrests in the second and 336 this week.
This represents an increase of almost 10 per cent on the same period last year.
There were no official Garda figures available for detection of other offences like speeding and not wearing seatbelts.
A total of 1,622 motorists were arrested on suspicion of drink-driving in the entire six-week Garda campaign last year, a four per cent increase on 2003.
Last year, 19,415 motorists were detected speeding and 2,818 were found not to be wearing seat belts.
During the 2004/2005 Christmas period, 42 people were killed in road accidents.