A man who made a round trip of almost 900 miles from Ireland to Wales to buy a car during lockdown has been fined for breaching Covid-19 restrictions.
According to Wales Online, Harry O'Rourke, of Ballinluska, Crosshaven, Cork was stopped by police when making the journey to Plymouth during the UK’s first national lockdown on May 22nd, 2020.
The 24-year-old was pulled over by officers from Dyfed-Powys Police when returning to Pembroke Dock port. He told the police he was travelling in order to "pick the vehicle up".
Mr O’Rourke was ordered to pay more than £1,000 (€1,140) at Carmarthen Magistrates' Court in Llanelli, Wales on Monday, February 8th for the breach of Covid-19 rules.
His payment order of £1,295 (€1,476.5) included a £1,100 fine, a further £85 in costs and a £110 victim surcharge.
Travel fines
It comes as the Irish Government is planning to increase the €500 fine for those found attempting to take a holiday abroad amid the Covid-19 pandemic to €2,000.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he had asked Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to increase the fines as a “significant deterrent”, after it emerged that about 60 per cent of those currently travelling are returning Irish holidaymakers.
More than 5,200 Irish residents that arrived into Dublin Airport over the course of a week starting at the end of January said they had been on holidays, despite the restrictions on non-essential international travel.
Ms Canavan, the Assistant Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach, warned that non-essential overseas travel is a breach of Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions and added it was “important that everyone understands and respects that.”
In all, 13,606 passengers arrived into Dublin from January 30th to February 5th. A total of 8,218 were Irish residents and of those, 5,241 stated that they were returning from a holiday or visit abroad.
This represents 63.8 per cent or almost two-thirds of all Irish residents who arrived into Dublin Airport that week.
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