Gardaí are to begin checks of licenced premises to see if adherence to public health guidelines are being met under what is known as ‘Operation Navigation.’
Garda management, the public and industry representative bodies that some licensed premises and their customers have not been adhering to the public health guidelines since the re-opening of licensed premises on Monday of this week.
The public health guidelines are in place to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
Where potential breaches of the Public Health Regulations are identified, and where a person does not come into compliance with the regulations, a file is submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a direction as to how to proceed.
Deputy Commissioner, Policing and Security, John Twomey said, “When licenced premises were initially shut under the public health guidelines An Garda Síochána checked thousands of licensed premises to ensure they remained closed, which the vast, vast majority did. Our intention in this latest phase was to conduct a large number of spot-checks of licensed premises. However, it now appears that just a few days after their introduction some licensed premises and their customers are ignoring the public health guidelines. By doing so, they are putting themselves and everyone they then come into contact with at risk of getting COVID-19. This is not acceptable and we are now expanding our planned checks.”
