Gardai in Co Wicklow said they were still encountering people going outside their ‘5km from home’ limit for exercise so they could go to the uplands in the county for cycling and walking.
Last weekend Wicklow gardai said very large numbers of
people had gone to the Wicklow uplands, with the majority outside their ‘5km
from home’ limit - the zone around a person’s home permitted for exercising
under the current Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions.
On that occasion there was no mention of cyclists by the
gardai in their statements. Instead, they complained of people who had driven
to the area to go walking and sightseeing, with many cars parked illegally.
Gardai issued 50 fixed charge notices (FCNs) for illegal
parking and also towed away cars that were parked in a way that blocked access
for emergency vehicles.
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After such large numbers of people went to the area last
weekend, increased Garda checkpoints were put in place last Sunday and again
for this weekend. Warnings were also issued in recent days by the Garda urging
people to stay away from the Wicklow uplands.
However, it appears some people have ignored the
warnings, with gardai saying they were encountering people today who had gone
to the Wicklow uplands to walk and cycle, adding fines were being issued.
“Garda checkpoints in the Wicklow
uplands are encountering quite a number of people travelling very deliberately
outside their 5km intending to walk in the hills or cycle,” Wicklow gardai said
in a statement on Saturday morning.
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“Ten people have been issued with
FCNs. Lots of others have been turned around,” it added of €100 on the spot
fines and people being told to end their journey and go home.
Since last Monday gardai can issue on the spot fines of €100 to people found more than 5km from home without a legitimate excuse.
People are allowed to exercise outdoors but must stay
within 5km of home. In other cases, people can go further than the 5km from
home zone if they are making an “essential journey”.
Under the rules, exercising is not an essential journey,
though going to work, shopping for essentials, going to a pharmacy or a doctor
or caring for a relative or loved one are all deemed essential journeys.
It appears the only circumstance a cyclist could train
more than 5km from home at present in the Republic would involve a cyclist
riding to work and treating that journey as training.
There are some training exemptions for elite athletes,
including elite cyclists, though that only applies to a very small number of
international riders.
Last week gardai said 29 people had been issued with the new on the spot fines - between last Monday and Wednesday - for going outside the 5km zone for non-essential journeys.
Two of those fined were cyclists who were training in Co Galway and were 19km from home. All of the other cases involved people in cars or people out walking.
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