Anyone caught breaking the rules could get a €2,500 fine or a six month jail sentence.
New emergency laws have come into effect giving gardaí power to restrict people’s movements until Easter Sunday night.
The Health Minister has signed the regulations into law to stop people breaking the 2km and social distancing rules during the coronavirus emergency.
The decision comes after 36 people died of the virus yesterday, while there were 345 new cases.
Anyone flouting the rules could get a court fine of 2,500 euro or a six month jail sentence.
The latest restrictions in operation since Friday, March 27 state that everyone should stay at home, only leaving to:
- Shop for essential food and household goods;
- Attend medical appointments, collect medicine or other health products;
- Care for children, older people or other vulnerable people - this excludes social family visits;
- Exercise outdoors - within 2kms of your home and only with members of your own household, keeping 2 metres distance between you and other people
- Travel to work if you provide an essential service - be sure to practice social distancing
Simon Harris also explained this morning that “it would not be a wise thing” to expect public health restrictions to lift after this weekend.
“If we take the foot of the pedal, the progress we’ve made would be reversed,” he told Newstalk.
Mr Harris said he did not want to see what had happened in other countries. “If we don’t make more progress we’re going to find ourselves in a difficult situation. We need to reduce the rate of growth.”
The country cannot be “normal” this bank holiday weekend, he added.
''Life is unusual at the moment, the alternative is so much worse, that we cannot save the lives we want''.
