One in 10 drivers - or as many as 284,000 people - have admitted to getting behind the wheel after drinking over the past year.

The survey by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) been published this morning, as officials launch the Christmas crackdown campaign.

Of those who admitted to drink driving, almost two out of five said they had consumed two or more drinks.

The research shows that the incidence of alcohol consumption is much higher among males, those who drive for work and those who have had a collision or near miss in recent years.

They are also likely to be high speeding and rule violators.

Preliminary figures from An Garda Síochána also highlight the extent of the drink-driving problem in Ireland: almost 6,000 people have been arrested on suspicion of driving whilst intoxicated for the period January to October 2015.

The vast majority of the arrests were male, and nearly half of those arrests occurred on a Saturday or Sunday.

Of those over the limit, more than half were between 20-39 years of age.

A big target for gardaí over the next six weeks will be checkpoints on the 'morning after' - so far this year 12% of arrests for drink driving have been between 8am and 2pm.

Chief Superintendent Mark Curran is from the Garda National Traffic Bureau.