The Government is set to introduce new on-the-spot fines which will be handed out to people not wearing face coverings in public settings.
The Health Minister has said he is introducing legislation which will allow gardaí to hand out fines from €20 to €100 to those in breach of public health rules.
However, the new sanctions will not extend to house parties.
Minister Stephen Donnelly has said he will outline details of the new laws shortly, which will amend the current Health Act whose penalties he says are not “proportionate”.
The reality is the act which we use, which is the 1947 Health Act, only has a binary choice on penal provisions which is up to €2,500 fine or up to six months in prison – I don’t believe that is remotely proportionate.
“The reality is the act which we use, which is the 1947 Health Act, only has a binary choice on penal provisions which is up to €2,500 fine or up to six months in prison – I don’t believe that is remotely proportionate,” he said.
“I will be introducing legislation shortly, which will add a table of penalties to the 1947 Health Act, which essentially will allow for more appropriate measures, for example a €20, a €50 or a €100 fine for certain things.
“We would be looking for example with non-compliance of face covering wearing for example, of having fines, it’s what other countries do.”
The Minister said the Government had decided against penalising people in their own homes in relation to house parties: “We decided not to apply a penalty to that, really to respect the sanctity of the person’s home.”
He added that the powers gardaí currently have under existing legislation should be enough to tackle house parties.
'Wandering into houses'
The Garda Representative Association had previously expressed concerns over the legality of entering homes to break up house parties, adding that legislation would have to be “carefully teased out and robust”.
Mr Donnelly had promised that gardaí would not be "wandering into houses" and that the Government was considering "appropriate powers" to deal with house parties that cause a public health threat.
Antoinette Cunningham, general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI), says they want to be consulted on any law changes that will involve gardaí.
“Just to be clear, AGSI have not been consulted in any way in relation to any of the Government proposals around the policing of house parties or the extension of new powers around pubs.
“Most of what AGSI hear is what we read in the media that seems to be leaked from Government sources, so there has been no consultation with us about any new proposed legislation or any extension of powers to go in to people’s private dwellings.
“We’ve had no Government consultation whatsoever in relation to those matters.”
The union has said that any plan to have gardaí raid people's homes to investigate house parties is "fraught with difficulties".
