Hundreds of trainee gardai have been drafted from Templemore college to work on the frontline in the battle against Covid-19.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee confirmed that 200 trainees have been pulled from Tipperary, where they are currently undertaking training to become fully attested officers, to help out with Level Five duties over the coming weeks.
Joining them will also be 60 instructors from the Garda College.
They will be carrying out a range of duties including ensuring that Covid-19 restrictions are being adhered to.
This can include spot checks at pubs and retailers as well as checkpoints set up across the country to ensure travel restrictions are not being broken.
There is also an increased focus on community policing over the course of the lockdown aimed at ensuring people, including the elderly and vulnerable, have the right supports at home.
Ms McEntee said: "200 trainees and 60 instructors from the Garda college in Templemore are being deployed to frontline duties today to help their colleagues during #Covid19.
"We owe them, and all the men and women of An Garda Síochána, our thanks for the work they do to help suppress the virus."
Deputy Commissioner of Policing and Security, John Twomey, warned that gardai will focus on non-compliant retailers in the coming days.
In these cases, a file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Meanwhile, gardai also carried out checkpoints on 132 main roads and around 1,000 secondary roads each day as part of Operation Fanacht.
They say that almost everyone has complied with Level Five restrictions, recording just two cases where individuals were suspected of breaching travel restrictions since October 22.
In total, there have been 71 crimes recorded in the course of the operations that were not related to breaches of regulations. These were mainly road traffic and drug related.
