Have a Safe Bank Holiday Weekend
There’s no bank holiday from Covid-19: A joint message from An Gárda Síochána, the HSE and local authorities in the South East
Have a Safe Bank Holiday Weekend; As Ireland continues to combat the Covid 19 virus, the three principal response agencies that make up the South East Regional Steering Group (An Gárda Siochána, the HSE and the five local authorities) have thanked people for their work on stopping the spread of Covid-19.
Ahead of the June Bank Holiday weekend, representatives of, An Gárda Siochána, the HSE and County Councils in Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford are appealing to everyone to continue their impressive efforts.
In an effort to deter people from travelling more than five kilometres, local authorities have restricted access to some attractions. The respective Chief Executives of the five local authorities – Kathleen Holohan (Carlow), Colette Byrne (Kilkenny and Chair of South East Regional Steering Group), Joe McGrath (Tipperary), Michael Walsh (Waterford City and County) and Tom Enright (Wexford) – have urged people not to allow everyone’s hard work to be undermined and to #Stay Safe and #HoldFirm..
Kate Killeen White Chief Officer South East Community Healthcare chairs the HSE Crisis Management Team (CMT) and has acknowledged that the collective actions of communities in the region is clearly making a difference but it is crucial that everyone keeps up those efforts:
“We know it’s hard, especially in terms of being apart from families and friends but it is helping to protect and keep our communities – especially vulnerable people and healthcare workers – safe. I want to particularly appeal to young people – we in the healthcare community need you to keep that effort going for another while.”
The respective Gárda Chief Superintendents for the region – Dominic Hayes (Carlow-Kilkenny), Derek Smart (Tipperary), Pádraig Dunne (Waterford) and Dennis Ferry (Wexford) warned that there will be a very visible Gárda presence across the South East this weekend, making sure that no one is travelling more than five kilometres from home without a valid reason:
“Our members will operate an extensive network of checkpoints this weekend, to ensure public compliance with the travel restrictions in place as part of Covid-19 public health guidelines. There has been very good compliance with the travel restrictions and we want to thank the public for this. However, it is vital that this continues over the coming days and weeks. It will save lives. In particular, we would ask people who are thinking of travelling to parks, tourist locations or holiday homes outside of the five kilometre limit this weekend not to do so. If you are stopped at a checkpoint, you will be turned back.”
