Michael Healy Rae wants the 20km travel limit to be extended for those living in rural parts of the country.
The outspoken Kerry TD said that extending the current 5km restriction to 20km on Monday won’t make much difference for those living in remote regions.
Instead, he suggested that different areas could have different rules as the country eases out of lockdown.
This approach has been taken in other countries, such as Spain, where regions have eased restrictions at different times, depending on the infection rates within local areas.
Mr Healy Rae said he would support an extension to 20km travel restriction, for rural areas such as Co Kerry.
He told Today with Sarah McInerney on RTE Radio 1: “A change from five to 20 kilometres in a built-up area is a massive change. It makes a very big impact on people’s lives.
“But if you’re living in some of the remote areas that we have in County Kerry, it makes very, very little difference to those people, going from five to 20 kilometres.”
The Independent TD said that while some decisions are based on medicine and science there are also “political decisions that need to be taken”.
He said: “When you’re comparing county to county and constituencies around the country, you would have to look at, is there a case to be made for regional-based rules and regulations?
“In other words, should you have a different rule, say, for Dublin County versus County Kerry?”
Mr Healy Rae said that at some point, “common sense” will have to prevail and that people will “self-regulate”.
He said: “There’s this thing that I would call self-regulation, in other words, people being sensible about their actions, and sensible about the precautions they take.
“And if there is a relaxing of the guidelines that are there, that people would be rigid in their own self-enforcement of trying to make sure that they protect themselves and their families.”
