Over 300 fines issued for breaking Covid travel limits over weekend
An Garda Siochana have issued over 400 fines for non-essential travel nationwide since level-5 Covid-19 travel restrictions were reintroduced last week with Operation Fanacht.
The vast majority of these fines, more than 300, were issued over the weekend for suspected breaches of the public health regulation relating to non-essential travel, despite people being asked not to travel outside their 5km limit.
Gardai found most of those not complying with the 5km rule were travelling to a location to exercise. One person stopped by gardai had travelled 80km from county Carlow to go walking in the Wicklow Mountains.
A Garda spokesperson confirmed: “As of Friday evening (January 15 2021), 74 fines for non-essential travel had been processed.
“The fines issued over the weekend will now be checked and processed. Once these are processed, definitive figures will be available later this week.
“In advance of the weekend, An Garda Síochána had advised the public of the need to plan their activities over the weekend to take account that people are only allowed to exercise within 5km of their home.
“The vast majority of people were compliant with this over the weekend.
“An Garda Síochána would like to remind people that the 5km limit includes the distance travelled to a location to exercise. In other words, you can’t travel more than 5km to a location to exercise,” the spokesperson added.
