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Traffic jams are expected across the country starting this morning, as 132 garda checkpoints are set up on major routes to prevent people from leaving their counties under the new Level 3 regulations.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris warned people that “traveling will feel very different than it does today.”
He acknowledged that Gardaí will not have criminal power to prevent people from moving from one county to another, but said that ignoring a checkpoint would be “a foolish choice.”
At a press conference at Garda headquarters in Dublin, the Commissioner said that from midnight yesterday for three weeks the force will place 132 fixed checkpoints daily on “arterial routes”, including motorways that will be reduced to one lane, in all the country.
“That’s to ensure that people stay within their county and only commute to work if it is absolutely essential to do so,” Harris said.
He denied that the lack of enforcement regulations within the law will prevent people from listening to the gardaí, and said that even when the gardaí had such power earlier in the initial confinement, it was only used “342 times.”
The new checkpoints would follow the tried and tested protocol of the “three Es”: Engage, Educate, Encourage, he said.
When asked to acknowledge that people can ignore the three E’s and continue on their way, Harris said that “they can, but I would tell you it’s a silly choice.”
Last week, the Gardaí set up 2,000 checkpoints in Donegal and Dublin alone, and that number is now expected to “expand significantly,” the commissioner said.
On the current theme of house parties, Harris said “we are not ignoring them.”
“I think you would agree that the atmosphere of having guards outside your house party tarnishes the atmosphere”
Antoinette Cunnigham from the Garda Association of Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) questioned how effective increasing checkpoints and enforcing Level 3 restrictions would be in reducing the number of Covid.
“Donegal and Dublin have been involved in a lockdown for the past few weeks and we have not seen a reduction in Covid numbers in those areas. So it remains to be seen whether this will work or not.”
“It remains a concern of AGSI that we have absolutely no consultation with the government regarding any application or proposed legislation at this time.”
He called on the Government to introduce a five-stage implementation plan that runs alongside the Living with Covid five-stage plan to let people know that “as the situation worsens, implementation measures will increase accordingly. “.
GRA President Jim Mulligan said surveillance of the pandemic “has been based on a measured and professional Gardaí approach working in a spirit of cooperation” with the public and businesses.
“We hope that continues, but it is crucial that the government’s message about the new restrictions is clear and unambiguous to the public and the business community,” he said.
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