And an average of just one motorist in each county is being breathalysed daily, according to new figures that demonstrate Ireland's "dismal performance" in tackling drink-driving.

The disturbing statistics have emerged amid growing carnage on Irish roads and come after the highest January death toll in over a decade. A total of 40 people were killed in traffic accidents during the first month of 2006, with a further two people dying in separate accidents since.

A total of 3,695 people have lost their lives in road accidents in Ireland since January 1997. This compares with a total of 3,636 people killed as a result of the Troubles in Northern Ireland between 1966 and 1999.

This overall figure also exceeds the number of people killed in the 11 September attacks in New York in 2001 and is the equivalent of the entire population of towns such as Clonakilty and Dunshaughlin being wiped out.

There has been a 20% increase in road deaths so far this year compared to the same timeframe in 2005.

Meanwhile, figures released by justice minister Michael McDowell last week, in answer to a Dail question from Labour's Roisin Shortall, show that the total number of roadside breath tests in 2004 . . . the latest year available . . . was 9,516. That equates to an average of just 26 per day or just one per county in the state.

Shortall, Labour's spokeswoman on transport, said the figures showed that there was virtually "no chance of being caught" drink driving.

"Everyone has a responsibility not to drink and drive, " she said. "But human nature being what it is, some people will take chances if there is just a slim chance of being caught, and that is the case now."

The Dublin North-West deputy said Ireland's record for breathalysing was the worst in Europe. In most European countries, drivers could expect to be stopped and tested at least once a year, she said. Based on figures from the Department of Justice, the odds of being breathalysed here in any given year were well over 200-1.

"It's a fairly dismal performance, I believe, when you consider that drink-driving was a factor in a large number of road deaths and given the general public's support for a change in the culture against drink-driving, " she said.

While she accepted that the numbers caught drinkdriving were likely to increase given recent clarification about garda powers to stop and breathalyse people, Shortall questioned why gardai were not using the powers they had. "If there is any reasonable suspicion that a driver has been drinking, that person can be breathalysed and if they fail, then there are grounds to take them to the station and carry out a second test by intoxilyser or through providing a blood or urine sample, " she said.

"There is a need for gardai to use their powers and the infrequency at which they are doing so gives cause for concern. There is now an onus on the Minister for Transport and the government, if they are serious about tackling drink driving, to instruct the gardai to go out [and test drivers]."

The figures showed a wide variation between regions in the level of testing. They indicate that gardai in some divisions carried out seven times as many roadside tests as their colleagues in other parts of the country.

Galway West, Mayo and Cork West showed the highest level of testing, while Carlow/Kildare and parts of Dublin had the lowest level.

Figures for intoxilyser tests, taken at garda stations, also showed a wide difference between garda divisions.

While the government has made two major announcements recently relating to road safety . . . the expansion of the penalty points system and the granting of powers to gardai to carry out random breath testing . . . the opposition parties claim there is "a total lack of political will" to address the number of deaths on our roads.

"The implementation of the road safety strategy has been painfully slow, " said Shortall.

"We are in the last year of that strategy and there is no way it can be implemented before the end of the year."

Fine Gael's Olivia Mitchell said the government was failing to deliver on its commitments in relation to road safety. "They [the government] have all the ideas . . . it's not rocket science . . . but they're not following through on promises, " she said. "The penalty points system is a fiasco and that is re-enforcing the point that road safety is not taken seriously."

The Road Safety Strategy 2004-2006 set a target of a 25% reduction in road fatalities by the end of this year.

However, with 42 people dying over the first 35 days of 2006, the government's target to reduce the number of road deaths to below 300 looks set to fail.

The strategy also contained a host of other measures, such as standardising the required training for driving instructors and updating the rules of the road, which have not yet been achieved.

A spokesman for the National Roads Authority (NRA), which has responsibility for one section of the roads strategy, defended the organisation's record on implementing its objectives.

"As a driver, one decision you make out of 500 is bad, so one decision shouldn't mean that you should die, " he said.

"We're trying to address this by making roads more forgiving."