Louth TD suggests putting the army on the border and says the number of cars in the northern regulation is ‘unreal’

LOUTH TD PETER Fitzpatrick has suggested that the army should be deployed along the border to prevent the people of Northern Ireland from traveling south.

The Independent TD says it is “unreal” how many cars registered in the north it has seen in its constituency and that it “does not like it.”

Fitzpatrick was speaking in the context of the impending expiration of the four week ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown in Northern Ireland which has seen bars and restaurants closed fo

Speaking to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, he said he fears this will lead to a greater amount of cross-border movement.

“As a former soldier in the 27th Battalion, I think it is about time we started using the army. You see what’s going on in Dundalk, we have a barracks in Dundalk where we have 450 soldiers there. Why not deploy them along the border area?

Louth, Meath and Monaghan have done a fantastic job over the last three or four weeks. Are we going to flush it down the toilet? I think we have to be realistic. I, for one, want to see a united Ireland, my first priority is that the citizens of Ireland are protected. Your government has to protect us.

Fitzpatrick says that cross-border travel is being “abused” and that “the number of registered cars in the north that you see is unreal.”

In response, Vardakar said the government “is not considering” putting the army on the border.

“We fought and fought too much for too many decades to get all the armies off the border and we certainly don’t want to be the jurisdiction that puts uniforms back on the border,” he said.

Despite this, Varadkar says the question is “serious” and that the Covid-19 situation in Northern Ireland is “much worse than here.”

Specifically, he said that the incidence of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland was three times higher and the death rate four times higher.

He says that the 5 km rule is in effect in border counties, but that it is better enforced by gardaí “and not by military means.”

The Tánaiste also responded to the Social Democrats’ TD Róisín Shortall inquiries and said it was “too early” for people to book flights to Ireland for Christmas.

Varadkar said that traveling from north to south at the moment is a “higher risk” than traveling from abroad.

“Ireland is an island, but we are not an island state. There are two jurisdictions on this island and we are never going to close the border between the north and the south, ”he said.