People living on the border will be entitled to travel 20km into the North as pubs and restaurants open in the coming weeks.
The Justice Minister Helen McEntee has confirmed that Gardaí will not be stopping people from crossing the border provided they are not travelling further than 20km from home.
Hairdressers and barbers in Northern Ireland have reported an ‘influx’ of booking s from the Republic ahead of their reopening this Friday.
Meanwhile, vintners have warned that cross-border travel for nights out and weekends away is “inevitable” if pubs and restaurants are not allowed to reopen for outdoor service.
On The Hard Shoulder this evening, Minister McEntee confirmed that people are entitled to travel 20km from their home and said there would be no dedicated Garda operation to stop them crossing the border.
“You are more likely to see checks at country boundaries than you are within the county in the last while but again people are entitled to travel 20km outside their own home and obviously, for some people, that will mean being able to travel into the North as well,” she said.
“We are not going to be stopping people and Gardaí will not be stopping people in that way.”
People enjoying the sunshine while dining outdoors in Dublin city centre, 21-09-2020. Image: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNewsShe encouraged people to act responsibly as the country prepares to reopen.
“The reason we have set the 20km as opposed to just the county boundary is because you have people who live very close to a border and, whether it is the shop or whether it is a personal service, they can travel to it so I don’t think there is going to be anybody prosecuted or fined for doing that,” she said.
“But I would ask people to obviously consider the risk, take responsibility if that is something they are going to do because obviously, this doesn’t apply to absolutely everybody.”
Image: Jens Kalaene/dpa-Zentralbild/dpaThe minister said it is “complex and challenging” when there are two different sets of rules on the same island but insisted the Republic would soon catch up with the North.
“They are, I would say, a number of weeks ahead of us in terms of their vaccinations but I think we are very close behind them,” she said.
“We have over 1.1 million vaccinations completed to date. We have 850,000 ready for this month. We will have 1.1 million for the month of May and 1.4 million for the month of June.
“So, while it might seem as though Northern Ireland and perhaps the UK are further ahead of us, by the end of June, we hope to have 80% of adults with their first dose and we have seen very clearly with the international evidence that the first does in itself still provides a huge amount of protection.”
She said people have responded well to the differing sets of rules on the island throughout the pandemic and said the Government was asking people to, “continue in that vein for the next two weeks, while our numbers of vaccinations increase and while we start to open our economy and out society.”
“It is difficult where you have different restrictions on the same island and where things are moving at a different pace but we do hope to be in position where, in a matter of weeks, people will able to book hair appointments – able to get their colour done, able to get their nails done and do all the things they are dying to do I think and everybody is looking forward to,” she said. “And they will be able to do that without breaking any rules or restrictions as well.”
Under Northern Ireland’s roadmap for reopening, pubs and restaurants will reopen for outdoor service on April 30th with indoor service returning on May 24th.
The Government is expected to announce details of reopening south of the border in the coming days.
On Lunchtime Live earlier the Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said the country appeared to be on track for a phased reopening in May.
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