Covid complacency: More Kilkenny residents breaking lockdown travel rules

For the fifth week in a row there has been an increase in the number of Kilkenny residents travelling further than 10km from their homes during the lockdown.

The latest Staying Local Indicator (SLI) issued by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reveals 59.1% of Kilkenny residents did not travel further than 10km at any point during the week ending February. This was a drop of 0.6% (59.7%) recorded the previous week.

Although moving in the wrong direction, Kilkenny’s drop is the second-lowest in the country with just Offaly seeing a smaller decrease in people flouting the current restrictions (0.2% decrease).

It was the fourth SLI report in a row that indicated a drop in Kilkenny residents’ adherence to the lockdown restrictions, yet another indication people’s patience with the current restrictions is wearing thin.

The CSO data is gathered in conjunction with Ireland’s mobile phone operators. However, the CSO insists that phones are not tracked and do not have access to personal data or individuals’ movements.

Nationally, adherence to the travel restrictions dropped by 0.7% down to 64.1% of the population.

Dublin continues to be the county with the highest percentage of the population staying local (77.4%), while Roscommon was at the bottom of the list at 49.4%.

The CSO recognises the propensity to stay within 10km of residence tends to differ by county, as movement is impacted by local circumstances and conditions, such as such as access to services and levels of urbanisation.