Drunk driving permits have been approved by county councillors in Ireland. The extraordinary move will see local police forces given authority to issue drunk driving permits to people who have drunk the equivalent of two to three alcoholic drinks.

The motion to approve the measure was passed by a vote of 5-3.

One of the councillors, Danny Healy-Rae, the the lawmaker who proposed the motion, explained the proposal to The Journal, saying: “A lot of these people are living in isolated rural areas where there’s no public transport of any kind, and they end up at home looking at the four walls, night in and night out, because they don’t want to take the risk of losing their license.”

Healy-Rae has said that the hope of councillors was that it would help mostly elderly people who are too isolated at home in rural areas. There was apparently a fear that they would become depressed at home and be too afraid to go out.

Meanwhile, Kerry County Mayor, Terry O’Brien, has spoke to the BBC and said, “It is incredibly dangerous. I don’t know how anybody can be allowed to say: ‘You’ve had two pints, so you’re justified to drive’.”

Despite the vote passing by 5-3 it has also been reported that seven other councillors abstained from voting, and a further 12 did not even attend the vote at all.

According to the BBC report, some of those councillors voting for the measure were pub owners. The report also reveals that one in three car crash deaths in Ireland are alcohol related.

Here is a video of a commercial about drinking and driving: