That is the view of a GP who says when she phoned a covid-positive patient last week they were out in the community and clearly not isolating at home.
It comes as 430 cases were confirmed yesterday, the highest daily increase since late April.
Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn has warned the situation with Covid-19 will deteriorate further unless people do more to stop its spread.
Monaghan GP, Dr Illona Duffy, says the public need to be educated about the need to self-isolate.
"What is better than fines is actually a better educational campaign about this. There remains confusion again about why you have to be isolating for 14 days if you are a close contact and only 10 days if you are actually someone who tests positive.
"I think that is really creating hassle for people."
She spoke to two patients recently who were distraught after they realised they had been exposed to Covid-19, and counted as close contacts - the person they were exposed to also should have been in isolation because they were a close contact.
"The big concern at the moment is not just that we're getting sporadic cases, but they're getting community spread - more and more cases where people are passing it on because they're not actually in isolation when they should be in isolation. I feel we have to do something," she said.
