Two cyclists who were out training together more than 5km from home were among 29 people issued with new on the spot fines by the gardai in recent days.
Last Monday the new €100 on the spot fines came into
effect and in the first three days, up to Wednesday midnight, 29 fines were
issued.
In two cases people who were spotted training – out cycling
or in a gym – were fined for being more than 5km from home.
Under the current rules designed to combat Covid-19, people are allowed to exercise outdoors but they must do that within 5km of home. If they are found further from home they can be fined €100.
People can travel further than 5km from home if they have
a “reasonable excuse”. This can include going to work, including cycling to
work, or caring for a loved one or relative, shopping for essentials or for
medical purposes.
Advertisement
However, being more than 5km from home for exercise purposes is not regarded as a reasonable excuse and can lead to a fine, as was the case for two cyclists in Co Galway this week.
Related News
According to a statement from Garda Headquarters, Dublin, the two cyclists were stopped near Carrick, Galway, and they were not from the same household.
The Garda statement said the two cyclists were not social distancing and did not have face coverings. They were 19km from home and were not in their home county.
They “claimed the reasonable excuse of physical exercise” but because they were outside the “5km applicable limit” they were each fined €100.
Gardai also
detailed other cases in which people were fined for being more than 5km from
home without a reasonable excuse.
In a gym in north Dublin, four people were seen leaving at the back of the premises and when gardai went to investigate they found two more people.
Those two people said they were instructors who were working at the gym because they had no internet access at home to conduct online classes. All six people were fined.
In another case a driver and two passengers were stopped in a car in Ringsend, Dublin, and said they had driven 80km from their home in Co Meath to collect burgers at a takeaway in Dublin 4. They were also fined.
Topics
