The Irish Government has introduced very significant new measures in a bid to control Covid19 which effectively ban cycling outdoors for training or leisure spins, even solo rides.
People will only be permitted to leave their homes for specific reasons including shopping for food or medicines, attending a medical appointment and providing care to the elderly or vulnerable.
There appears to be nothing to stop people traveling by bike to perform these specific tasks and then returning home immediately.
While people can also leave their homes for brief exercise, including cycling, they must stay within 2km of their homes while exercising. This measure effectively ends substantive cycling outdoors.
Cyclists could continue to commute to work if they work in what are officially classified as essential jobs or they are providing what is classified as an essential service.
Advertisement
But even those people classified as essential workers are legally obliged to work from home unless it is impossible for them to do their jobs from home.
Any gathering in public of any number of people, except
people who live together, is also banned.
Related News
The only people permitted to travel to and from work, if
they cannot work from home, are those classified as essential workers or who
provide essential services. Public transport will be limited to those workers.
For the past couple of weeks, group rides were not possible in the Republic because they contravened social distancing measures, namely the need to stay two metres from other people except those you share a home with.
The one reprieve for cyclists was that they could still ride on their own or with those they lived with.
However, the new measures which come into effect from midnight tonight (Friday) bring that cyclist-friendly situation to an end.
The new measures are not advisory. Instead, people must
comply with them and they will be policed by the Garda.
The measures were announced by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on
Friday evening and will be in place until at least Easter Sunday, on April 12th.
"What happens next is up to each and every one of
us," Mr Varadkar said on a day when the number of new Covid19 cases
increased by a record 302, to 2,121.
"Show your support for our healthcare staff, show
your support for everyone who is working in essential services or looking after
vulnerable citizens, show you care for your family and friends. Stay at
home."
Topics
