The new laws have been in effect for two weeks.
Gardaí have confirmed that 34 arrests have been made under new legislation granting emergency powers relating to Covid-19 containment measures.
As well as the 34 arrests, Gardaí noted that 405 other interactions with the public that began as “potential breaches of the regulations” resulted in “incidents” covered by legislation offences such as public order, assault, road traffic, and drugs.
Two of the arrests came at the behest of medical professionals. The emergency powers allow Gardaí to detain people who are refusing to self-isolate despite advice from medical professionals.
Details of the arrests and incidents were included in an update from An Garda Síochána on Tuesday regarding its use of emergency powers, which have now been in effect for two weeks.
Gardaí were given the power to enforce these rules – such as remaining with 2km of one’s home for all non-essential purposes – before the Easter weekend.
The data supplied in today’s update takes into account the period from 8-18 April.
Overall, the update revealed that An Garda Síochána continues to experience a high level of compliance with the public health guidelines at the many checkpoints and high visibility patrols it is conducting at tourist locations, natural beauty spots, and parks and beaches.
“During this time, Gardaí have interacted with hundreds of thousands of people. The vast majority were adhering to the public health guidelines,” a statement read.
Gardaí say they cannot release figures as to how often their new powers are invoked to discourage behaviour in breach of the emergency laws as they “do not keep a record of interactions they had with the public where they did not use the regulations i.e. how many times they turned people back at checkpoints”.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
