Force fury as Northern cars free to pass
SENIOR gardaí along the border are said to be ‘extremely annoyed’ that Garda Commissioner Drew Harris did not tell them sooner that strict new lockdown laws do not apply to people travelling from the North.
Northern cars crossing the border are driving through Garda Covid-19 checkpoints because drivers know the restrictions on movements in place here do not apply to them, informed sources have told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
Garda members have been told they cannot arrest anyone from the North for breaching the ban because enforcement powers do not extend to people living in other jurisdictions.
Border chiefs had been looking for clarity on the matter since the powers came into effect last month and are ‘extremely annoyed’ they were not told sooner the laws do not apply to people from outside the State.
Worryingly, the MoS has learned that anecdotal evidence from PSNI automatic number plate recognition cameras have recorded a 20% rise in border traffic in the last two weeks. Garda chiefs are concerned the number of vehicles will increase further with a bank holiday here this weekend and in the North next weekend.
An informed source said: ‘The commissioner said he has known all along that the regulations restricting movement did not apply to people from Northern Ireland, so why were border gardaí not told?
‘Border troops were sent into this without the full facts and as a result were telling people from the North to adhere to the law without any power.’
Another source claimed gardaí are being used as ‘pawns’ and that pressure needs to put on the Government to close the loophole.
‘We are turning our own people away, telling them they can’t go visit their families, but yet Northern cars are driving through,’ they said.
‘Look at the rates of the virus along the border. How can it [the rates] not be because people can cross the border freely.
‘They have such a different approach in the North. They’re not testing in the community, not counting nursing home deaths and behind in closing schools and businesses. We have a bank holiday this weekend here and next weekend in the North and gardaí do not have the power to stop the flow of cars.
‘That absolutely undermines the hard work of the locals.’
Another source added: ‘Border bosses looked for clarification in the first week and the second and were then told the restrictions do not apply to people living in Northern Ireland. This was known all along so I don’t know why they were not told.’