On-the-spot fines of up to €100 for people who break public health rules are to be introduced by the government, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has revealed.
Minister Donnelly said he will introduce legislation shortly and this would include fines for people who don’t wear a face covering.
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 €100 fine.
"We would be looking, for example, with non-compliance on face coverings, for example, having fines - it's what other countries do.
"The current powers in Ireland, the 1947 Act, is unwieldy in this case.
"We will be looking at bringing in a new schedule of fines, including for other compliance measures.”
Minister Donnelly said the sanctions available under the Health Act including a large fine or jail time for failing to wear a face covering are too severe.
He said the powers gardai have now under existing legislation should be enough to deal with house parties.
He told Newstalk: "The flip-side is that it does mean that the enforcement powers are less... there will not be penalties attaching to house parties - however the gardai have done a very good job and most people can be encouraged to comply and the gardai do have other powers, public order powers and others, that can be used where appropriate."
But Labour leader Alan Kelly said he wouldn’t support the legislation and it was a “draconian action.”
He said this is the second time Minister Donnelly was “testing the water” after it was mooted gardai could potentially enter homes to break up house parties.
Mr Kelly said: “I think we’d want to be very careful to go down that route.
“A situation to which you’d go to on the spot fines in the near future is something I wouldn’t be in the position to support.
“I would just be careful of taking the step of potentially looking like a draconian State, I don’t think that is something that the public would welcome.
“It does worry me about the line of thinking of Minister Donnelly in relation to a number of these issues.”
