Drink driving the largest cause of road fatalities in Kilkenny

One hundred and twenty five arrests have already been made for driving under the influence in 2026

Published 20th Jul 2026, 18:30 BST File photo One hundred and twenty five arrests have already been made for driving under the influence in 2026 Sign up to our Kilkenny Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Kilkenny Live within your account.

Stark figures around road deaths in Kilkenny and increasing numbers of motoring offences being recorded were given at a Local Community Safety Partnership meeting at County Hall this week.

While giving a presentation to the meeting, Inspector Paul Donohue of the Kilkenny/Waterford Roads Policing Unit said “we haven’t had good times in recent years” while outlining some of the causes behind the 15 road deaths in Kilkenny since the beginning of 2023.

Alcohol was the largest contributor to fatal accidents with four incidents related to drink driving followed by two each for drug driving, pedestrian error, speed and distracted driving.

Inspector Donohoe stated that the unit was going to “up our enforcement” in relation to the figures and outlined the makeup of the Kilkenny/Waterford team which has 22 operational gardaí across the counties.

Some of the most striking increases in offences recorded included 125 arrests for driving under the influence in the first six months of the year compared to 166 in all of 2025, meaning this year’s figure is already over 75% of last year’s.

Mobile phone use while driving is also on the rise with the 354 motorists caught out so far, well on the way to exceeding 2025’s 511.

There were improvements in some areas however, as seatbelt compliance is growing with only 28 infractions, on course to drop from 74 last year.

Some new local initiatives and operations were outlined including a strategy where a plain clothes garda and a uniformed one work in tandem to spot mobile phone use in Kilkenny City.

Across two days of action, 95 drivers were caught using mobile phones including 57 on one day alone.

Another strategy known as Operation Iompar involves the use of an articulated lorry cab to look down into cars from the higher vantage point on roads.

On June 17, 46 motorists were found to be using mobiles along with five not wearing seatbelts.

The debate around e-scooters is currently grabbing headlines across the country and Inspector Donohoe was keen to highlight the work being done in Kilkenny to ensure compliance.

Thirty illegal scooters have been seized in 10 months with KuKirin being the main non-compliant brand taken.

These scooters have top speeds of between 35-70km/h, far beyond the legal limit of 20km/h while one home-modified model had a max velocity of 119km/h.

From working around the policing of e-scooters, Inspector Donohue believes that Kilkenny is one of the better counties around compliance saying “if anyone think we have a problem with e-scooters in Kilkenny, I would say we don’t”, that it’s the “most proactive county in the east” and the problem was worse in Waterford.

Of the 30 people caught with illegal models, 26 have already been convicted with five of these receiving a two-year disqualification.