Covid-19: Gardaí will have no additional powers, but ignoring checkpoints would be 'very foolish'

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Deputy Commissioner, Policing and Security, John Twomey, speaking at a press conference in advance of Ireland moving to level 3 of the Government's Living with Covid' plan. Picture: Colin Keegan/ Collins Dublin

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has acknowledged that gardaí will have no penal power to stop people from moving from county to county, but said that to ignore a checkpoint would be “a foolish choice”.

At a press briefing at Garda HQ in Dublin, the Commissioner said that from midnight this evening for three weeks the force will be placing 132 fixed checkpoints daily on “arterial routes”, including motorways which will reduce to one lane, across the country.