Gardaí called to disperse groups of young people in Cork 

Concerns have been raised on social media about groups gathering in different parts of the city and county and the Tánaiste said he is worried that young people ignoring the Covid-19 crisis are endangering others. 

Yesterday, a Cork security firm raised worries over a surge in groups of youths gathering in the Mount Oval area.

John Foley, operations manager of Crime Stoppers Security Ireland, said its staff were seeing an increasing number of young people gathering in the area in recent days.

Crime Stoppers Security normally monitors the Mount Oval area as part of its regular patrol, and its staff would try to disperse any gatherings.

However, he said, the groups gathering in recent days have refused to move on.

“On Thursday night, they wouldn’t move on and eggs were pelted at our staff,” he said.

“Our staff are spending hours up there trying to move people on. We did have to bring in gardaí.

“At the end of the day, we have to protect our staff. If a member of staff goes down [with Covid-19], this is going to be a problem for us.” 

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána confirmed they were called to the area on Thursday night.

“Gardaí did attend and directed people to leave the area, which they complied with. The Government and the HSE have advised people of all ages to reduce their social interactions and to keep a distance of 2m between you and other people.” 

Authorities have continued to stress the importance of social distancing to help slow the spread of coronavirus, including by also reducing interactions with people outside the workplace and home.

Mr Coveney made a stark appeal to people to confront those who do not adhere to social distancing measures.

Speaking in the Seanad, he said: “We need to confront our families and our peers and our communities to make sure everybody takes that seriously. If we do, we will save lives, thousands of them.” 

Last night, Health Minister Simon Harris said people need to redouble efforts on social distancing and that we need to “get together as a country by staying apart”.

He stressed that people should also stay apart even when they are outside.

He acknowledged that at a time of a pandemic, we can all feel a bit powerless, but said there is so much people could do, including keeping social distancing, washing hands, and practising cough etiquette.

Mr Harris also warned that we would see a very significant number of cases of Covid-19 in the days ahead, and said people should be prepared for this.

Meanwhile, there have been more than 40,000 applications for the HSE’s On Call for Ireland volunteering initiative.