Lobbying Government:
Mary Clinton has been very active in constant letter writing, for a period of almost six years now, to Government Ministers who have any responsibility for Road Safety.
Her most recent such effort has been to Deputy John Curran T.D. Minister of State at the Dept of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, with special responsibility for Drugs Strategy. Mary pointed out to the Minister that she was very concerned about the proliferation of drug usage throughout the county and country. Mary said, "I requested a meeting for January with the said Minister to discuss face-to-face with him about my constant requests to the Ministers for Finance in every New Government reshuffle, to make the finance available to equip our Gardai with the Device/apparatus being used successfully in other European Countries to test drivers for Drugged Driving. I told him that I have factual information about the reliability of these Devices(2) tried, tested and proven to work successfully in less than 5 minutes!"
Mary also made a presentation to the Donegal Vocational Educational Committee on 21st November 2005. She called for their help in lobbying Education Minister, Mary Hanafin T.D. to get Driver Education and Training incorporated into the school curriculum as soon as possible, in an effort to reduce road carnage. She also sent this letter to all Ministers with responsibility for Road Safety, and included the issue of the proliferation of Drugged Driving.
Subsequent to this, Mary presented An Tanaiste, Mary Coughlan T.D. with a similar letter requesting her assistance in this matter. Mary also presented An Tanaiste with 16 key-rings for each member of the Cabinet, which was the 3rd phase initiative of her Road Safety campaign, with the appeal message: "Say NO to Drink & Drug Driving!"
Mary got thousands of these key-rings printed, and distributed 2000 of them to spectators while attending World Rally Ireland in Sligo January 2009. She was invited to the event by John Naylor - the Event Director, to promote her campaign.
February 2008
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has submitted a proposal to try and raise the legal age of alcohol consumption to 21 years old, to the Department of Transport, Minister Noel Dempsey T.D. The Alcohol Advisory Group is presenting a report of their findings to the Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan T.D.
A-CEART has been lobbying the Minister for Justice since its foundation on this very same issue and also forwarded the same to Mr. Noel Brett, CEO of the RSA more than two years ago. This addresses some of the aims and objectives of A-CEART.
This same suggestion has been gaining momentum in England since it has been suggested to the relevant bodies by the Chief Constable of the Cheshire Police, Const Peter Fahey, so I sincerely hope it gains the same momentum here as Youth binge drinking is a scourge of our society, and very likely to be responsible for a considerable % of our road collisions.
November 2006
Deputy Noel O' Flynn F.F. announced the unveiling of a programme of safe responsible driving, driving habits and driving techniques. This programme will be funded by the Department of Education and the Department of Transport, and made compulsory in all the second-level schools and colleges at transition year.
For the past 5 and a half years, I have been campaigning and lobbying all the relevant Government Ministers and Departments, the National Safety Council, the National Roads Authority, the Donegal County Council, the local Gardai and the Gardai Headquarters in Dublin on various Road Safety issues.
I was calling for the introduction of a programme of Driver Awareness, Driver Training and Personal Responsibility to be introduced into the curriculum of all the schools and colleges in the country.