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Senior Garda officials believe the first day of checkpoints across the country and the resulting traffic congestion was a “major commotion” that made it clear that people should not travel outside of their home county unless absolutely necessary under the new Covid-19 Level 3 restrictions that went into effect. at midnight on Tuesday.
More than 130 static checkpoints erected Tuesday on highways and other arterial routes across the country were due to move to the opposite side of the highway this afternoon. It means that motorists delayed Wednesday morning would face the same disruption at night.
A Garda checkpoint on the N11 on Wednesday. Photograph: An Garda Síochána / Twitter
Thousands of other mobile checkpoints or more secondary roads were also being built across the country. Garda sources said that motorists who plan to avoid main routes in an attempt not to be delayed by Operation Fanacht checkpoints “will be very disappointed.”
Traffic updates issued by AA Roadwatch reported a vehicle queue of up to 8 km on the N7 heading west from J2 Kingswood to J5 Athgoe, where a checkpoint was located.
Other locations where traffic lines were described as “very slow” or “very heavy” included the M11-M50 near Bray, Co Wicklow, heading west on the M4 between J5 Leixlip and J6 Celbridge, as well as J15 Kiltiernan heading south on the M50 to the Bray-Fassaroe area on the M11.
Garda officials believe that Wednesday’s congestion, which caused additional 45-minute delays in some parts of the country, would deter many of those who decided to travel today from doing so again tomorrow or the next few weeks during the Level 3 period.
Officials who spoke to The Irish Times did not apologize for long traffic jams in some parts of the country, saying that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris had warned very clearly Tuesday that delays were inevitable.
And while the Garda did not yet have figures to prove a drop in traffic on the roads on Wednesday, multiple sources said anecdotal evidence from those manning the checkpoints was that the volume of traffic had dropped.
Other Garda sources reported a mixed reaction from motorists at checkpoints, many of whom were forced to queue for up to 45 minutes due to traffic jams caused by the operation.
“Some were happy to see us and understood that we had to be there, but there were other people who were more furious. But much of the reaction was reasonable; they seemed to be waiting for him, ”said an officer.
Gardaí, familiar with the operation of the checkpoints, said that while not all the vehicles were stopped and all the drivers were spoken to, a large number spoke and asked where they were going.
The same sources said that because the advice to people not to leave their county of origin was established in statutory instruments, it was written in law and therefore Gardaí had the right to detain people and question them about their movements, although no sanctions are imposed for those who ignore. that measure.
Level 3
The government decided on Monday that all counties will join Donegal and Dublin on Tier 3 of the five-tier Living with Covid strategy for the next three weeks through Oct. 27.
Level 3 means tighter controls over daily life as numbers of contracting the virus and needing hospitalization increase.
Another 432 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Tuesday night. This brings the total number of cases of the disease in the Republic to 38,973. One more death was reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,811.
At Level 3, people are asked to remain within their county unless they have to travel for work, educational, or other essential purposes. Home visits are restricted to a maximum of six people from another household, while weddings and funerals are limited to 25 people.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar leaves a cabinet meeting at Dublin Castle on Tuesday Photo: Dara Mac Dónaill
Pubs, restaurants, cafes and bars serving food may remain open for takeaway, delivery and outdoor meals / services up to a maximum of 15 people. Dublin’s wet pubs are closed. Nightclubs, discos and casinos remain closed on Level 3.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warned at a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party on Tuesday night that a brief lockdown may still occur despite the government this week rejecting the advice of the National Public Health Emergencies Team (Nphet) to move to the Level 5.
Mr. Varadkar went on to say that the council had not been “thoughtful” and criticized Nphet after the news emerged Sunday night without prior consultation with the government.
However, sources present at a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party on Tuesday night said that Varadkar warned that a switch closure may still be on the horizon.
“He basically said that locking a circuit breaker might or might not work, but he had no illusions that it’s on the horizon,” said a source.
On Monday, in a speech to the country from Government Buildings, Taoiseach Micheál Martin sought to balance public health demands with the need to “protect lives and livelihoods” by warning that a return to confinement “would lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of Job positions “.
The country was in “a very different situation from last March,” he said, warning that “the severe restrictions now would have a very damaging impact” on the economy.
Mr. Martin’s statement represented a strong rejection of Dr. Tony Holohan and Nphet’s advice to implement Level 5 measures, following a day of harsh government-wide criticism of the medical director.
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