It’s almost enough to drive long suffering motorists round the bend.

A senator yesterday suggested Irish motorists should drive on the other side of the road to facilitate the huge influx of foreigners.

Not only that, but a lower speed limit of 80kmh should apply to immigrants.

However, the bizarre suggestion by the Fianna Fail leader of the Seanad, Donie Cassidy, came under fire last night.

The Automobile Association said the suggestion to switch from left to right was “totally unworkable” and made “absolutely no sense”.

Speaking in the Seanad yesterday during a debate on road safety, Mr Cassidy said that in time we could examine the possibility of changing and driving on the other side of the road.

He said that from a tourist point of view our biggest destinations were Europe and the US where they drove on the right-hand side of the road, so there were good reasons for considering a changeover.

He said that 10 to 15-year-old cars bought at auctions should not be allowed on the roads network and that immigrants were buying them up, as did Irish immigrants in England and the US in the 1950s and 1960s as they attempted to begin a new life.

Mr Cassidy said there should be a 80kmh limit (50mph) for anyone coming from another nation to live and work here, especially if they came from countries where they drove on the right-hand side of the road.

He called on the Road Safety Authority to carry out some research on the proposals.

However, the suggestions were dismissed as out of hand by road safety experts and motoring organisations.

Problems

Conor Faughnan, AA corporate affairs manager, said: “These proposals would be totally unworkable and not even remotely feasible.”

Mr Faughnan said that changing over to the right-hand side of the road would create enormous safety problems.

Also, every right-hand drive car would have to be replaced, along with every bus as these are boarded from the left side.

“The consequences would be enormous. The sheer scale of the project and cost would be staggering.

“This does not make any sense whatsoever, especially from a road safety perspective,” said the AA chief.

Mr Faughnan said gardai could not enforce a special speed limit for foreign drivers. This would also be completely illegal under EU law.

Noel Brett, Road Safety Authority chief executive, would only comment that any proposals from Mr Cassidy would be examined as requested.

I thought that the line “Car owners may opt to make the switch themselves on an individual basis” would be a bit of a give-away

Mind you, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see this being proposed in the future. And they will probably plan it in the same cackhanded way.