I join Senators Bacik and Mullins in extending my sympathy to Gillian and Ronan Treacy, the parents of Ciarán. We are all appalled by Ciarán's needless death.

I join Senator Bacik in mentioning Judge Keenan Johnson, who spoke very eloquently and sensitively about this matter. He imposed as strong a sentence as we might have expected in this country but there is a need to go towards the position in the United Kingdom. We need to treat cases such as this much more seriously. I acknowledge that younger people, for the most part, do not even think about drinking and driving nowadays but, clearly, we still have a way to go because drink driving is occurring. For it to occur once is too much, as illustrated in the case in question.

In the United Kingdom, there is a mandatory period of imprisonment of 14 years where drink driving causes the death of another individual. There is also an unlimited fine in those circumstances, a ban from driving for at least two years - in Portlaoise, the driver was disqualified from driving for 20 years - and an extended driving test before the offender's licence is returned. While I commend Judge Keenan Johnson on his judgment, I believe that in Ireland, in general, we need to move towards a mandatory and more serious sentence for drink driving that causes the death of another individual.