Tourists stay away as message gets through
FEARS that North Wexford would face an influx of holiday-makers over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend failed to materialise as gardaí reported minimal activity at checkpoints throughout the area.
Having spent the week preparing for a wave of visitors and liaising with holiday park owners, Sergeant Stephen Ennis said the majority of people they encountered were locals going to and from their residences.
‘ The checkpoints were quiet over the weekend, it was just local traffic. We were very happy with the level of compliance and the message to stay at home is definitely getting though. It was very quiet in general throughout Easter,’ said the Sergeant.
Although gardaí turned some holidaymakers away on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, by Good Friday everything had gone quiet.
‘We had been assessing the situation all week in the lead up, and engaged with different camp site owners. We were were happy with the compliance of the people as we had an awful lot of cooperation. It’s something we hope to keep going over the next few weeks, to encourage people to stay at home,’ said Sergeant Ennis.
‘Over the weekend we had check points, foot patrols, mountain bike patrols and uniform patrols to deal with every situation. We have a number of steps we take, but when we turned people around, they’ve done what they were asked.
‘We were concerned about the good weather initially, but the majority have taken the advice of the national public health emergency team. Closing the car parks at beaches and beauty spots was a good move, and we’ve been working in conjunction with Wexford County Council’.
Last week, John Breen, who runs Tara Meadows Holiday Park in Ballmoney, had warned that if holidaymakers came to Wexford they would ‘jeopardise’ the hard work of others. But he was happy to report minimal activity in both his holiday park and the region in general.
‘It’s been very quiet, we’re happy,’ John said. ‘It seems that common sense has prevailed. 99% of people realised they have to stay at home, and we’d like to thank people for not coming and for staying away.’