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GARDAÍ HAVE ISSUED approximately 9,800 fines relating to Covid-19 breaches to date.
The total number of fines issued as of close of business yesterday is made up of 9,475 fines that have been processed and approximately 340 that are currently being checked and processed.
As of close of business yesterday, a total of 7,566 €100 fines have been issued for non-essential travel and 341 fines worth €500 have been issued for non-essential journeys to airports and ports.
The total number of €100 and €500 fines for non-essential journeys to airports and ports stands at 716.
A total of 277 fines worth €500 have been issued for organising house parties and 1,109 €105 fines have been issued for attending house parties.
Gardaí have also issued 187 fines worth €80 for not wearing a face covering.
An Garda Síochána will be continuing nationwide checkpoints and high visibility patrols at public amenities across the country this weekend in support of public health guidelines.
Gardaí is advising the public of the need to plan their activities over the weekend and to take account that people are only allowed to exercise within 5km of their home.
People are reminded that the 5km limit includes the distance travelled from their home to a location for exercise.
Gardaí said people should be aware that if a driver is found to be in breach of the non-essential travel regulations that not only can the driver be fined, but their adult passengers, too. This is also the case for adults in groups undertaking activities such as cycling or walking – every adult in such a group can be fined.
People who are visiting amenities within 5km of their home are being asked to park legally. Illegal parking can hinder access by emergency services and could put lives at risk, gardaí said.
Gardaí are also reminding people that travel restrictions do not apply in the case of domestic violence or to escape a risk of harm, whether to the person or to another person.
An Garda Síochána is appealing to any person who may have been the victim of an incident of sexual or domestic crime irrespective of whether they may have been in breach of any public health regulations, for instance by attending a house party, to report such incidents.
“The vast majority of people are complying with the public health regulations. This is vital in bringing down the Covid-19 infection rate. We know it has meant major sacrifices for people and we thank them for their great efforts,” Deputy Commissioner John Twomey said.
“The best way of keeping safe this weekend is to stay home. If you are going out, please stay within your 5km, limit your contacts with others, maintain social distancing, and regularly wash your hands,” Twomey said.
“We all have a role to play in tackling the spread of Covid-19. This is an individual and collective responsibility,” he added.
“Unfortunately, there appears to be some people who don’t believe it is their responsibility. Having such an attitude puts themselves, their loved ones and anyone they come into contact with at risk of getting a virus that has killed more than 4,000 of our fellow citizens.”
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But if your only coming from Brazil your OK.
@Jimmy Mac: suggest to visas and quarantine. What’s the issue?
Plenty of people genuinely need to travel
@Karl: plenty of people need to travel to funerals, but can’t , so your saying 2000 Brazilians need to travel, I take it your in PR for FFG.
@Karl: Brazilians and others are flying in but asked to quarantine at home. All it takes is one or two to not bother hop in a taxi, a bus or supermarket…. So yeah there’s your “issue”. Going “the shops” doesn’t come into play if you are in a hotel for 14 days.
@Karl: I need to travel to the allotment to grow my own food, but could i be turned back? Maybe if i get asked is my travel essential i will say “For my mental health yes it is”
The police are just doing their job. The lawmakers on the other hand (i.e. the government) as well as the journalists that communicate the restrictions to us little people have no concept of what it’s like to be trapped like rats in a 5 k invisible cage for months on end. They can’t – they are free to travel the country – too good for zoom meetings. We are not all in this together.
@Paul Walsh: Was watching the weather forecast earlier on RTÉ 1. At the end of the broadcast she says “I hope you enjoy the good sunshine over the weekend, but remember to enjoy it within your 5km”. Constantly being pushed on people, is she told to say that?
@Kevin O’Brien: RTE shouldn’t be telling us Joe and Jane soaps to stay in the 5km and to follow the guide lines. They should be saying that to their own staff.
Or your practically exempt if you are from a certain section of society attending a funeral.
5km is a sick joke anyway
Only country in Europe currently with a complete blanket restriction on freedom of movement on all of its citizens – going into its third month now. Fining citizens for driving to take a walk on a mountain or in a forest. Brought to us by a hopeless government that can’t put the very basics in place properly. It’s all on us the people apparently. « nothing to see here » as far as the government and HSE are concerned. When in doubt, or you just can’t get your sh-et together, just put it all back on the people and outsource all thinking to others. The sooner we can sweep these incompetent m.uppets aside, the better.
No fines for non essential construction work?
@Teddy: non essential opening of business is subject to a court appearance.
@Karl: ah, I was heard of companies getting fined, guess I heard wrong- thanks Karl
The meat plants have literally gotten away with murder in this country. There has been outbreaks and clusters coming from meat plants and whole counties have been shut down. Yet there has been no repercussions for them, they have been allowed carry on. The guards have never been called or arrested any of them.
Its not like these owners are the golden boys in society. They are paying farmers below the cost of production. They continue to drive the price down here where its at least 20% more in the UK for the same animal. During the protests the factories were complaining about their poor workers loosing money. Turns out they were paying these people peanuts and giving them no sick pay. 80% of the workforce in these factories are contractors from poorer countries. Some of these people work here but are paid in their own country with is way below the minimum wage. Because they are contractors they get away with it. These people are running a monopoly and care not for peoples welfare. They only care about profit.
Be Interested to know how many have been collected?
As long as you stay in your 5km limit you can drive in circles. How dare they state ‘ stay in your 5km limit for exercise’. It up to us if we want to exercise, we might just want to read a book, or get quiet time but don’t let this government say it for exercise. I don’t want to run or walk or cannot cycle.
Why can’t they just state ‘ don’t travel beyond 5kms from where you live’. It reminds of that dreadful description cocooning last year. The bottom line is as long as we obey the restriction rule don’t tell us how to.live our life.
@Anne Murphy: I thought you can travel as far as you need, once it’s essential, and the 5k limit is just for exercise. Otherwise not supposed to leave your home. It was reported a while back that fines had been handed out to some even when within 5k of their homes, for being out for neither essentially or exercise. I am open to correction, and for the record I think the travel limit is ridiculous.
@Anne Murphy: so can people who live on their own not visit a family member for company if they are outside the 5 km limit.
Your Friday warning!
There’s so many excuses to leave the 5k, I’m actually surprised 9800 people couldn’t come up with an excuse??
@Dave Harris: seems to me once you have one excusr to get through a checkpoint (food shopping, physio, pharmacist, cleaning supplies, essential electronics purchase) there should be no fine. What are they saying to get the fine? “uhhh not sure where I am going….”
“As of close of business yesterday” an interesting way of putting the Gardai issuing fines, but it’s not that wide of the mark.
Obviously the fines are big enough if people are willing to take the chance. For repeatedly offending the fines should double.
@barry moore: Apologies. Obviously the fines aren’t big enough.
@barry moore: Teenagers are being shot in Dublin, children groomed to sell drugs by gangs, people are being knifed, assaulted and robbed everyday, People outside of a 5km radius of their homes should be the VERY least of our policing problems
@David Lee: I totally agree. If people acted responsibly and followed the 5km the garda wouldn’t be wasted time on them.
@barry moore: Well actually that’s where you are mistaken, there’s no way they can know whether or not people will comply unless the conduct the nonsense checkpoints. So they’d be standing on the roads like lollipop people either way
@barry moore: it’s amazing how effective the NPHET scare mongering is. People praising the implementation of a restriction that had no basis in science. If 5km is so effective, why is no other country in the world doing it? One of a series of nonsensical restrictions that has no impact on safety but a serious impact on lives, health and wellness.
Ah, more “messaging”. Looks like either the Gardai have stopped practicing the 4 E’s in many cases or there is a dramatic increase in people disregarding their instructions when compared to the initial period when the fines came in.
More doom and gloom form Journal ie how much are ye getting paid to be mouthpieces for the government When will ye speak out and have a dissatisfaction for what is going on the Germans told the people the Jews where diseased people wake up people of Ireland this is deception to put us at logger heads and destroy our economy and our people For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life Lord Jesus have mercy on the Journal and other media outlets have mercy on our journalists writers broadcaster Father you know them all by name give them a revelation of your love in Jesus name give them a dissatisfaction for the lies brain washing and control they are part of turn the way of the wicked upside down in our media in Jesus name
@Tony Bourke: Blessed be those who use punctuation.
OK, in all seriousness…so I live 30KM outside of a major city in Ireland. I drive through a checkpoint to go to a dentist appointment, for example. My 5KM is nowhere to be found so I essentially have free reign to go to any supermarket, takeaway, chemist, or essential retail within that city, or to choose a local park to take a walk.
Where, if you live within that city, you cannot go outside that 5Km at all, and have no choice where to shop or what to do. Is that correct? I do not understand why there would be so many breaches and fines given, and what they are for. And why does someone driving into a city area from the country have what is probably way more freedom that people living within the city.
that’s correct the city dwellers are trapped in a way that people from rural areas are not
@Paul Walsh: Some people in rural areas live more than 5KM from the nearest pharmacy or supermarket and there are literally no shops or facilities in a 5KM radius. In a city there are several within a 5K radius. There are benefits and drawback to both city and rural dwellers.
Just note placemarks on your route like shops,vets,clinics,graves and no reason to be caught out with a fine. Airports remain open, politicians remain on full pay. Outside of wearing a mask in public and not attending huge parties. Stay healthy, excercise, walk and chat outside in fresh air is safest option.
At least a million euro into the coffers.
@Cian Martin: those pay rises need paying for
The Gardai, our heroes
Meanwhile in the real world, the Drugs trade it’s rampant and people are being shot in the streets
The Gardai have become nothing more than state goons.
That’s a lot of money…
@Adam Minivan: perhaps that’s the point of the 5k limit
“at close of business”. I didn’t know that the gardai had opening and closing hours. I thought they were 24 hrs.
@Dt125: members of An Garda Siochana work 24/7 but they employ non garda staff for administration work in offices. When a garda writes a fine on the roadside its the handed over to a non garda staff member to process and put onto the system.
They didn’t report the age group mostly responsible. That would really set some of us off. (Hint: Mammy and Da will probably be paying the fine.)
@Contrary Mary: Were you ever young yourself?
How many of these fines were paid?
Well done Gardaí
and you’d want to be an absolute cl0wn to pay that fine
Let’s hope the government hurry up and vaxcinate the 6 million citizens of Ireland this year. Because with the free for all for asylum seekers next year ireland will have 25 million extra citizens. And we will still be in lockdown.
Suspect this will go up even more……..
Who believes the garda figures breathalyser count went well
And how many of the fines were actually paid?
have your say