€500 each-way fine for a holiday
Gardaí will turn people back and can issue f ines for non-essential journeys
HOLIDAYMAKERS determined to travel abroad can expect to budget for an additional €1,000 on the cost of their trip in fines, gardaí have warned.
Officers are issuing a €500 Fixed Charged Penalty Notice to travellers who head to an airport if their trip is not deemed essential. Officers can, in theory, issue the fine a second time to people on their return from a trip.
Sources say tougher enforcement by gardaí at the airport over the past week is working and even business people are being grilled as to whether their trip is essential.
It comes as gardaí are privately calling for quarantine hotels to be set up to contain certain travellers to the State but don’t want the responsibility to secure the facilities, according to an insider.
The Irish Mail on Sunday has learned that more than 2,000 Fixed Charged Penalty Notices (FCPN) have been issued
‘If you’re stopped, you will be turned back’
countrywide in the last two weeks and the figure is expected to soar this week.
‘You cannot leave your home unless essential. People driving to go to the airport on holidays is a breach, even business people are being scrutinised,’ an informed source said.
‘If you are stopped on the way to the airport and it’s not deemed an essential journey, you will be turned back. There is no power to turn anyone back but you will be cautioned and asked to desist. If you don’t turn back, you will be told the consequences and that is working.’
People returning home from a holiday have been issued with the penalty notices through the letterbox in recent days.
‘If you come through the airport and you’re coming back from holidays, you’ll be getting an FCPN in the post because gardaí have been told regulations are there, you have the powers and it’s up to you to deal with the airports. You could potentially get two FCPNs in the post, that’s the new policy.’
Almost 100 FCPNs have not been paid, resulting in summonses for court. But officers are chasing the offenders who fail to settle the €500 fine.
‘That’s being carefully monitored and a senior officer is engaging with the court service to ensure summons are processed and are served on people. Gardaí are engaging with [the] DPP to push decisions on those. These are blatant breaches and will be in court soon,’ said an informed source.
‘Regulations have improved and are very enforceable and there are going to be significant court cases coming up. Some people are not paying FCPNs and think they’re going to test it in court.’
Sources also said that gardaí have been advocating privately for quarantine hotels, but do not want the responsibility of policing them.
‘Gardaí do not want to be security guards roaming the corridors, that takes law and they’ll have to introduce hard law to enforce that.
‘Government are looking at the Western Australia model and the measures in place there in terms of foreign travels and gardaí are in favour of that but would want a security company with HSE staff and department staff policing it.’
Officers are also against the idea of policing people who are quarantining at home after they arrive into the country.
‘Gardaí do not want to be policing people quarantining at home, that would require sharing of data between agencies and tracking people and senior management are staying away from that.’
They are also waiting on directions from the Department of Justice on permanent checkpoints along the border. An operational plan that was established during a past Foot and Mouth disease outbreak could be invoked if necessary, but logistically gardaí say it will be a significant task which will require ‘considerable redeployment of resources to the border’.
Garda Representative Association vice president Brendan O’Connor told the MoS that the fixed charged penalties are proving effective. ‘The vast majority of the public are being responsible.’