THOUSANDS OF CHECKPOINTS will be in place on roads around the country as gardaí seek to ensure compliance with the Covid-19 restrictions over the coming days.
Operation Fanacht kicked in at 7am today and will run until midnight on Monday, 4 May.
The operation will involve large-scale checkpoints on many main routes and thousands of mobile checkpoints on secondary routes, with over 2,500 gardaí involved at any one time.
High-visibility patrols will be conducted at major tourist locations, parks and natural beauty spots to ensure compliance with restrictions.
In a tweet this morning, gardaí said that just because there are fewer cars on the roads “it does not mean that speed limits do not apply”, adding that a driver received penalty points after being caught driving at 97km/h in a 60km/h zone in Naas recently.
‘A critical week’
Operation Fanacht was previously implemented over the Easter weekend and gardaí used the new Covid-19 powers available to them on seven occasions.
Speaking yesterday, Deputy Commissioner John Twomey said: “When we last ran Operation Fanacht there was a high level of compliance from the public. It is vital that we see that again.
“I want to thank the public for their cooperation so far. We know it has not been easy and has required significant sacrifices. We need this compliance to continue.
“This is a critical week for the country. If we all work together, we can help save the lives of our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues.”
A decision on relaxing Covid-19 restrictions at the end of the current lockdown period (next Tuesday, 5 May) has not yet been made, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said yesterday. He expressed concern that rates of improvement on key indicators of the virus have slowed.
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