Coronavirus: Holidaymakers 'using backroads to avoid checkpoints'

NORTHERN and Dublin holidaymakers are using backroads and travelling by night to beat a Garda crackdown designed to stop the spread of coronavirus, it was claimed yesterday.

Gardaí set up checkpoints on every road into Co Donegal on Tuesday to stop an influx of northern and Dublin visitors to the county for the Easter break. Operation Fanacht (Operation Stay) will remain in place until Easter Monday.

There are around 60 border crossings into Donegal and many of them are not manned.

According to local reports from today, tourists were crossing at various points including near Muff and Bridgend.

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Locals on the Causeway coast also reported seeing a high number of people visiting their holiday homes although towns including Portrush and Portstewart appeared to be quiet today.

Donegal crime prevention officer Sgt Paul Wallace told Highland Radio that people are continuing to make unnecessary journeys, including doing their shopping many miles from home.

"There are just too many people moving around," he said.

"We have the essential workers who carry their identification and their letters for passing purposes, authenticating who they are.

"But a lot of people are just driving around. A lot of people are making their normal journeys from Donegal town to Letterkenny to do shopping or from west Donegal... This can't continue. We have too much cross-contamination and too much movement of people."

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Garda commissioner Drew Harris speaking on Wednesday said anyone travelling to a second home for Easter would be turned back while those already in holiday homes and caravan parks would have to remain there.

However there were long tail backs on all cross-border roads as Garda officers continued to turn back visitors yesterday.

Anyone travelling without documentation to prove their journeys were essential – including those seeking to purchase cheaper diesel at border petrol stations – were automatically turned back.

However, there was strong evidence that many holiday makers ignored medical advice not to travel. Donegal Fianna Fáil councillor Noreen McGarvey said a lot of tourist areas appeared to be as busy as normal.

“People have told me visitors are using backroads to avoid the Garda checkpoints. One woman told me that she watched five northern-registered cars going along her road last night," she said.

“Unfortunately, some people appear to be determined to ignore the advice. Gardaí had to move six campervans on from a beach in the Rosses on Wednesday."

Fine Gael councillor Barry Sweeney, from Ballyshannon, said there was anecdotal evidence of motorists travelling through the night to avoid the border checkpoints on their way to the Bundoran and Rossnowlagh areas.

Social media was also awash with reports of Dublin and northern-registered cars flouting the rules.

One woman posted on Facebook: “The Gardaí are doing their absolute best but they cannot be everywhere. Last night between 11.30pm and 4am, it was non-stop traffic, people have obviously decided to take to the road in the middle of the night in an attempt to beat this curfew.”

Another woman posted: “I couldn’t believe my eyes in Dungloe this morning when I saw the queues of people outside Aldi. Every second vehicle in the town had a northern registration. I am both saddened and angry that people have gone against the regulations.”