The number of people flying through Dublin Airport barely changed the week after fines for non-essential travel abroad were introduced, new stats provided to Newstalk show.
Travel Extra editor Eoghan Corry says this shows most people currently flying are likely doing so for essential reasons, and public outrage over holidaymakers is likely 'misdirected'.
Dublin Airport has said there were an average of 4,064 passengers a day in the week to Sunday January 24.
The following week, after fines for non essential travel abroad were introduced, there were 3,996, almost the exact same amount.
Travel during both weeks was down by 94% compared to normal traffic levels.
Speaking to Newstalk, Mr Corry said: “It shows that (those) moving are doing so for the categories defined by the European Union as essential travel.
“Garda checkpoints will pick up people trying to work around those definitions, but I’m not sure the numbers warrant the level of outrage that we’ve seen.”
280 fines for non-essential travel abroad were issued between last Thursday and Sunday.
The fines were introduced following public anger over reports of people going on holidays. Fines were initially set at €100, although this was increased to €500 from Monday.
Dublin Airport said the 4,000 passengers per day breaks down as about 2,000 inbound and 2,000 outbound travelers, some of whom were transferring through the airport.
As the 280 fines were issued over four days, Mr Corry says this breaks down as 70 per day out of roughly 2,000 outbound passengers per day, showing the overwhelming majority of people are following the rules.
He said: “2,000 inbound and outbound is pretty much subsistence level for necessary transport for essential travel to keep the economy going. It shows that the level of outrage about holiday flights is probably misdirected.
“The Government … are following the sense of outrage that people are traveling out of the country when people cannot travel beyond their 5km. That is to be seen to be doing something. I’m not sure the problem warranted that level of reaction in the first place.”
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said today that the government will introduce new laws to stop people travelling abroad on holiday if fines are found to be ineffective.
He told The Pat Kenny Show: “If people think they can just say, ‘oh be damned, I don’t care, I am going away. I don’t care about putting people at risk and I will pay the fine,’ then I can assure you, government will look at that and we will look at what powers are necessary to deal with that".
