Drew Harris: Travelling to Tenerife for dental work 'not a reasonable excuse'

In an interview on Friday's Late Late Show, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris revealed that he himself was out of work with Covid-19 for about two and a half weeks over Christmas and the new year. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said that he is aware of reports of individuals avoiding travel restrictions by travelling to Tenerife under the auspices of having dental work done. 

"We don't regard a dentist's appointment in Tenerife as being a reasonable excuse to travel," the Commissioner said on Friday's Late Late Show.

Mr Harris said that while medical intervention and medical treatment are permitted under current regulations, there was a question of how reasonable a trip abroad like this may be.

I would suggest that travelling to Tenerife, thousands of kilometres, whenever there are perfectly good dentists here in Ireland is not reasonable. 

The Commissioner said that from Friday morning, gardaí had "changed their approach" and admitted that the €500 fine was "perhaps not the deterrent we thought it might be." 

"We found out today that people have turned back rather than be prosecuted and have a criminal record and risk actually imprisonment or a suspended sentence which is far greater penalty than a €500 fixed penalty notice," he said.

Elsewhere in his interview, Mr Harris revealed that he himself was out of work with Covid-19 for about two and a half weeks over Christmas and the new year.

He described his experience as “mild but unpleasant” and said that his heart goes out to all of those who have suffered and who continue to suffer from it.

“I count myself as being very fortunate, and very lucky,” he said.

Commenting on the overall availability of Gardai throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the commissioner said that while the force had had a “bad period” in terms of staffing in January, the force was currently “95% operational.”

"In more normal times we would be at about 97% so we have 200-300 who are either suffering from Covid or self-isolating."

Restriction compliance and garda availability

The Commissioner also spoke to host Ryan Tubridy of the experience of gardaí generally over the last year, and of the levels of public compliance with public health guidelines.

"We are seeing an awful lot of compliance, the vast majority are compliant, but we are also seeing irresponsible behaviour," he said.

"Irresponsible behaviour which is risking lives in the end and so we have had to adopt an enforcement approach around situations like shebeens and perhaps in terms of travel restrictions. 

"The advice is 'stay at home'. There are exceptions to that, but those must be with reasonable cause, you must have some reason why you are out of your home."

Host Ryan Tubridy and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris on Friday's Late Late. Picture: RTÉ/ Twitter

Asked about whether some powers given to gardaí could infringe on civil liberties, Mr Harris said the “extraordinary” powers do make him nervous in a certain regard.

"They make me nervous in so much as we must have some set clauses and cut off points and that's what's built into our legislation in any case. There's a huge amount of cheques and balances in our system," he said.

Mr Harris said that even within a large organisation like An Garda Síochána there was always going to be a "very small minority" who sometimes "let the side down" in terms of discipline and adherence to public health guidelines. 

"That's for me to deal with. We are a disciplined service," he said. 

"We uphold the law so therefore we must set an exemplary standard to others in our behaviour and our adherence to the law."

The impact of his father's murder

Towards the end of the interview, Mr Harris was asked about the impact the murder of his father had had on his life and career. 

The Commissioner's father, Alwyn Harris, a Royal Ulster Constabulary superintendent, was killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on October 8, 1989.

"I think that it takes a long time to come to terms with something as difficult, and traumatic and as awful in your life and to carry it with you every day. 

"Every day I would think about my father," he said.

He said that the traumatic experience of losing his father in that way had given him "an empathy for those who have been the victim of serious crime." 

"I would have spent a lot of my service dealing with murder investigations and overseeing murder investigations and I always thought that was our opportunity to give the person who was the victim their last voice. 

"In lots of ways it has had a profound effect on my outlook on what policing should be," he added.