More than half of Covid-19 fines given to under-25s

Almost 8,000 fixed penalty notices issued to date with 620 court prosecutions to follow

Almost 8,000 fixed penalty notices have been issued by An Garda Síochána for breaches of Covid-19 regulations.

Those who have been fined are overwhelmingly under the age of 35 and male.

Three quarters (75 per cent) of those who have been fined are men and the rest are women. More than half (53 per cent) are between the ages of 18 and 25 and a further 24 per cent are between the ages of 26 and 35.

Just 3 per cent are over the age of 56 and 1 per cent of those who have been fined are over the age of 65.

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Saturday and Sunday account for 45 per cent of all fines.

As of Thursday evening, 7.950 Covid-19 fines have been issued of which 6,297 were €100 fixed penalty notices for non-essential travel.

Some 263 €500 fines were issued for non-essential journeys to airports and ports while the the total number of €100 and €500 fines for non-essential journeys to airports/ports is 638.

A further 197 people were fined €500 each for organising a house party, 747 were fined €150 for attending a house party and 155 were fined €80 for not wearing a face covering.

Updated data

An Garda Síochána has also updated data on other Covid-19 offences on its website which shows that 620 court prosecutions have been initiated to date following consultation with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution.

Fines for non-essential cross-Border travel came into operation on Monday morning, February 8th and would appear to have had an immediate effect.

Traffic data over last weekend showed approximately a 23 per cent decrease in cross-Border travel compared to previous weekends.

Deputy commissioner of policing and security John Twomey said those who breached Covid-19 regulations were putting themselves and others at risk in a week where the "tragic milestone" of 4,000 Covid-19 deaths was reached.

“While the vast majority of people are heeding the advice, there are still some who are not complying with public health regulations. In doing so, they are putting themselves, those they love, and those they know at risk of catching of a virus that could, unfortunately, result in serious illness or death,” he said.

“We all have an individual and collective responsibility to reduce the spread of Covid-19. Please stay home, reduce your contacts, maintain social distancing,

People issued with a Covid-19 related fine have 28 days to pay the fine. If they do not pay the fine or choose to appeal it, they will receive a Court date shortly after.

The Garda statement reminded people that a court summons could see an increase in fines to €1,000 and/or imprisonment.

It also stated that those who end up courts could find their activities reported in the local or national media.

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy is a news reporter with The Irish Times