Clare saw the biggest fall in drink and drug driving offences of any part of Ireland in the first half of this year.
79 people were found to be intoxicated while behind the wheel between January and June, down from 141 in the same period last year.
The fall comes despite rises being recorded in nearly half of all Garda Divisions.
Traffic levels were down significantly during the lockdown period, but despite this official Garda figures show there was an increase in the level of drink and drug driving detections in 11 of the country’s 28 Garda Divisions.
Official figures, first published by the Irish Times, show that while much of the increase came in Dublin, higher levels of driving under the influence were also recorded in Wicklow, Louth, Carlow/Kilkenny and Roscommon/Longford.
Eunan McKinney, from Alcohol Action Ireland, believes the rise in some counties could be due to more people drinking at home rather than the pub.
At the other end of the scale, the 79 drink and drug driving detections in Clare is higher than only three other Garda Divisions, and is a fall from 141 in the first half of last year.
In percentage terms, this is the biggest drop of any Garda Division in Ireland.
