Gardaí ‘doing our best’ but cannot close the beaches

GARDAÍ say they are engaging with people who are travelling beyond the 5km limit within the New Ross district – in some cases to visit beaches and shops – while acknowledging that they are relying on people’s honesty and are having to take what they say ‘at face value’.

This is the message from New Ross Superintendent John McDonald, who said gardaí have noticed a steady increase of traffic on our roads since before May 5 when Phase I of the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions occurred.

‘Certainly there is a lot more traffic on the road but it’s more difficult to know if it’s slippage or the initial phase working. At our checkpoints the people are generally doing what is permitted. The act states that providing people don’t travel more than 5km that they are entitled to go to beaches.’

Supt McDonald said compliance is dependent on people heeding the medical advice, adding that with the sunny weather some people have not been adhering to the rules.

‘Ultimately, it’s people’s own personal responsibility to take that on board. We do what we can within the parameters. The onus has always been on people to comply. We have had checkpoints around the district from the very start of this and have been engaging with people. It would be impossible to gauge the truth with everyone, even at checkpoints. With the people we do engage with, we advise them on what to do.’

He said there is a four-step process for gardaí to follow: engage, encourage, explain and enforce.

‘Enforcement is as a last resort. That has always been national policy in all of this.’

He said gardaí in the district have engaged with people who have not been complying with public health recommendations by attending parties.

When asked if gardaí are engaging with people on beaches like Duncannon – which was busy on days last week – Supt McDonald said there have been checkpoints near beaches and people have been turned back from these checkpoints.

‘When we are talking to people, we have no way of verifying what people are saying to us. We ask them where they are coming from and going to and if they indicate they are within the 5km, good. We have to take them at face value, unless there is a clear difficulty where a person is a significant distance away from where there home is.’

Comparing the travel ban to the smoking ban, Supt McDonald said: ‘The smoking ban was successful because people complied with it. It would never have been successful if gardaí had to enforce it continuously. People bought into that ban and people’s behaviour changed.’

Supt McDonald said most people stopped at checkpoints are going to work or to do their shop, if they’re further than 5km from their nearest supermarket.

‘They are doing what they need to do within the 5km limit, within the parameters. That is not saying that everyone is complying but the vast majority of people are. It think as time goes on we have seen a change, even before May 5 when the first phase came in. There was an obvious visible increase of movement on the roads.’

He said the fine weather naturally encourages people to go outdoors, adding that NPHET has been encouraging people to do likewise, providing they stay within their 5km limit and adhere to social distancing.

He said one person was prosecuted in March for repeatedly failing to adhere to the measures in New Ross.

‘There is not a significant number of prosecutions which is the instruction from the Garda Commissioner. Gardaí will enforce the legislation. Can we stop people from gathering in their thousands at beaches? In Dublin that has been the case and the guards went in and advised people to disperse but significant numbers ultimately didn’t.’

He said if gardai were instructed to enforce the closure of beaches by the chief medical officer and the government, they would.

‘I know there are bound to be cases where breaches occur. Nobody wants a big crowd at the beach. In the vast majority of cases, people have confined themselves to their homes and their towns and have done their living best as they are conscious there are people with underlying health conditions and appreciate their responsibility for those among us who don’t ave the immunity to fight this.’

He said up to ten mobile garda units (including the garda armed support unit and traffic corps) have been deployed in one day across the district, at a time when other policing duties have to be carried out.

Supt McDonald said from a management viewpoint, managing policing during Covid-19 has been exceptionally challenging.

‘You have so many different factors you have to consider. The health and welfare of guards means we have had to adopt new processes in how we engage with people. Also how we detain and engage with suspects. It’s a multi-faceted challenge.’

Between when to use PPE and gardai encountering people who have Covid-19, New Ross guards have been going above and beyond during their daily shifts, he said.

‘Some have engaged with people who are diagnosed with Covid-19. Thankfully, so far we haven’t had any member diagnosed [with Covid]. They are very busy with domestic and other health-related incidents, much more so than normal so I would be hugely complementary of my colleagues on the front-line who have dealt with this to the best of their ability.’