Gardaí will be able to check holiday homes 'to ensure public health advice is followed' says Minister

People continually flouting the social distancing laws could face a fine of €2,500 or a six-month jail sentence.

The Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has said that it was very important that gardaí had clarity with regard to regulatory arrangements around Covid-19 restrictions.

The new regulations were signed into law by the Minister for Health Simon Harris last night and are in place until Easter Sunday.

Minister Flanagan told RTÉ radio’s Today with Séan O’Rourke show that it was likely the restrictions would last into next week.

The regulations are a last resort he said and it was hoped that a high level of compliance would be maintained. “We want to ensure that the public health advice is followed.”

Mr Flanagan said there was a fear that people may have become a little complacent in this the fourth week of the lockdown.

When asked if gardaí could knock on the doors of holiday homes and tell people to go home, the Minister revealed that they could. Gardaí will be staging roadblocks and sending people back from where they came.

It was not envisaged that the emergency powers will be widely used. “They are there as a deterrent. There will not be an automatic rollover.”

Mr Flanagan thanked the people of Ireland for their compliance, but he warned “we’re not there yet.” There are still increasing numbers of cases and unfortunately deaths increasing too, he said.

Gardaí would be able to stop cars with “the box on the roof and the buckets and spades in the back” at checkpoints. If there are some who flout the regulations the gardaí will now have recourse and people “will be required to go back to their place of residence.”

The latest restrictions in operation since Friday, March 27 mandate that everyone should stay at home, only leaving to:
• Shop for essential food and household goods;
• Attend medical appointments, collect medicine or other health products;
• Care for children, older people or other vulnerable people - this excludes social family visits;
• Exercise outdoors - within 2kms of your home and only with members of your own household, keeping 2 metres distance between you and other people
• Travel to work if you provide an essential service - be sure to practice social distancing

The vast majority are not going to be affected, he said. “The vast majority have nothing to fear here, the vast majority are fully compliant.”

The restrictions will have to continue to help flatten the curve, he said.

There will not be an automatic rollover of the new laws, he said, there will be “careful consideration” and the government will take the advice of Dr Tony Holohan and the NPHET.

Former Attorney General Michael McDowell told the same programme that it was important that people realise that staying home over the holiday weekend will save lives.

He said he would love to be on the Shannon this weekend, but if he went into a local shop to buy a newspaper he could be carrying the virus with him.

Senator McDowell complimented the government on the measures taken to allow gardaí enforce social restrictions, he described it is “a reasonable measure during a national emergency.”

The fact that it was only a five-day imposition of the new garda powers showed how focused the government was on trying to prevent people from moving around the country over what would normally be a travel weekend, he said.

The former Minister for Justice acknowledged there was an element of the restriction of civil liberty, but the fact was that doing so could prevent thousands of deaths, which he said trumped civil liberties.

However, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has said the extraordinary powers "should not be used".

The body has urged gardaí to take a community policing approach this weekend, but if they are used, they must berecorded and monitored as a safeguard against their abuse and to ensure they are used as minimally as possible, if at all.

ICCL’s Executive Director, Liam Herrick, said: "The approach of An Garda Síochána up to this point has been based on consent and has been for the most part successful.

"We urge both Government and gardaí to continue this approach. The vast majority of people have been observing the advice to stay at home and restrict movements to what is essential for the past two weeks.

"So it is not clear that there is any demonstrated need to move from consent to enforcement and we urge the Garda Commissioner to make it clear that the introduction of these regulations does not lead to any significant change in the operational approach of the Gardaí."

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