Sir, – Reading "Gardaí have powers to enforce quarantine but are not at hotels to stop people leaving" (News, March 29th), about who is responsible for maintaining the quarantine at the quarantine hotels, it seems we have yet another fudge by Government, which apparently has not considered in a practical way what happens if someone decides to leave.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee maintains it wouldn’t be “appropriate” to have a permanent Garda presence as the people quarantined are not criminals, but by the time the Garda is called, the absconder will be long gone.
The purpose of the quarantine hotels is to quarantine potential virus carriers from the general population and each other.
With one individual who absconded still missing, the present “light-touch regulation” of “it’ll be grand” and “we’re doing enough to say we are doing something” is untenable.
If Garda numbers are stretched such that they can only provide a single garda at each hotel, the Army could provide numbers, stationed on-site in aid to the civil power, to back up that garda should a number of quarantined individuals decide to make a break for it.
Remember that one of the reasons the country has been almost permanently locked down for the last year is because of the influx of untested people into the country since the pandemic began a full year ago.
The kid-gloves need to come off for those individuals who are showing no responsibility to the law-abiding and responsible majority of the population. – Yours, etc,
DAVID DORAN,
Bagenalstown,
Co Carlow.