A priest has been ordered by Gardai to stop giving out Holy Communion to his parishioners.
People were being brought inside the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Huntstown, West Dublin, given Holy Communion, and ushered out a side door after watching mass online.
The locals were all sanitised and brought in over a two hour period, one of the parish priests told the Irish Independent.
"There was no congregating," Fr Binoy Matthew insisted.
“It was a way for us to stay in contact with our parishioners and offer them spiritual support.
“It is not as if the whole world was coming to us – it was a small group of people who carried out the correct sanitising and protocols. They didn’t stay in the church for prayers or gather in groups.”
Gardai confirmed they shut down the Communion operation after, according to Fr Matthew, being alerted to it when they attended the scene of a car accident nearby.
They told Dublin Live: "An Garda Síochána became aware of an event involving organised activity taking place in a church. In supporting the COVID-19 public health guidelines and regulations, An Garda Síochána has and will continue to adopt, a graduated policing response based on its tradition of policing by consent. This has seen Gardaí engage, educate, encourage and, as a last resort, enforce.
"An Garda Síochána has engaged with the relevant persons and this organised activity is no longer taking place."
