An Garda Síochána has issued more than 800 fines in Donegal for Covid-19 breaches.
As of close of business yesterday (April 15) the following number of fines had been recorded across the whole country:
– 14,650 €100 fines for non-essential travel
– 1,186 €500 fines for non-essential journeys to airports/ports – the total number of €100 and €500 fines for non-essential journeys to airports/ports is 1,561
– 718 €500 fines for organising a house party and 2,855 €150 fines for attending a house party
– 341 fines of €80 each for not wearing a face covering
– 407 fines of €100 for non-essential travel by persons not ordinarily resident in the State.
Parties
An Garda Síochána continues to find groups gathering (house parties, social gatherings, exercise etc.) in breach of regulations.
These are not just breaches of regulations, but are a risk to the individuals involved, their families and loved ones, and continue to put everybody’s health and the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic at risk.
An Garda Síochána will be continuing nationwide checkpoints and high visibility patrols at public amenities, parks and beauty spots across the country this weekend in support of public health regulations.
An Garda Síochána is again advising the public of the need to plan their activities over the weekend to take account of the new limitations on non-essential travel i.e. travel within your county or 20km from your home.
The public should also 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 as well. 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.
When visiting amenities within the travel limit please park legally. Illegal parking can hinder access by emergency services and could put lives at risk. As we saw during previous weekends, people who illegally park are at risk of having their cars towed and impounded.
Four Es
In enforcing these regulations, Gardaí have been using the 4Es approach – engaging, explaining, and encouraging with enforcement a last resort.
An Garda Síochána continues to remind persons subject to domestic violence – 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 continues to appeal to any person who may have been the victim of an incident of sexual or domestic crime irrespective of whether you may have been on breach of any public health regulations, for instance by attending a house party, An Garda Síochána is here to assist and support you, please report all such incidents.
Speaking today, Deputy Commissioner, Policing and Security, Anne Marie McMahon said, “Thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of the vast majority of people many of the key COVID-19 indicators are starting to improve. All of us in An Garda Síochána appreciate this.
“It is important now that we continue to do the right things. We need to maintain social distancing, limit our contacts, and regularly wash our hands.
“Please do not gather in large groups or attend or host house parties. Being at such gatherings puts you, your loved ones and everyone you have contact with after at risk of catching COVID-19.”
Please note that due to the requirement to make technical changes to the Garda system following the recent introduction of new regulations, the figures released today do not take account of fines issued since Monday, April 12 2021. In other words, they are not a full week of figures and so are not comparable to last week’s figures. Once processing resumes, we will provide updated week-on-week figures.
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