Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020
506. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Health when the extended emergency powers given to An Garda Síochána will be rescinded; the plans in place for this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9255/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020 amended the Health Act 1947, making exceptional provision, in the public interest and having regard to the manifest and grave risk to human life and public health posed by the spread of Covid-19.
Section 31A of the Health Act 1947 (inserted by section 10 of the 2020 Act) allows the Minister for Health, having regard to certain matters, to make regulations for the purpose of preventing, limiting, minimising or slowing the spread of Covid-19. Section 31A(7) provides that a member of the Garda Síochána who suspects, with reasonable cause, that a person is contravening (or has contravened) a provision of a regulation made under section 31A that is specified to be a penal provision may, for the purposes of ensuring compliance with the regulation, direct the person to take such steps as are necessary to comply with the provision (it is an offence not to do so without lawful authority or reasonable excuse and the member of the Garda Síochána may arrest that person without warrant). Provision is also made for the taking of the name and address of any person believed to be contravening such regulations (with similar penalties arising for not doing so).
The Health Act 1947 (Section 31A -Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No 121 of 2020), as amended, provide that the requirement to remain at home without reasonable excuse is a penal provision. Under section 31A, this means that breaching it is an offence, punishable by a fine of up to €2,500 of imprisonment of up to 6 months, or both. A Garda who, with reasonable cause, suspects that a person is breaching this requirement may direct the person to take steps to come into compliance, in effect to go home. A person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, fails to comply with such a direction is guilty of a separate offence, again punishable by a fine of up to €2,500 or imprisonment of up to 6 months, or both. The Garda may also arrest such a person without warrant. The Garda may also require the person to give his or her name and address, and again it is an offence, with the same punishment, to refuse or to give an address that is false or misleading. The Regulations also impose restrictions upon events, which is also a penal provision to which similar penalties apply.
Any amendment to the existing Regulations, including any requirement for penal provisions, must give due cognisance to the on-going threat that the disease represents and is predicated upon carefully considered public health advice, provided by the Chief Medical Officer and the National Public Health Emergency Team. To date, any unwinding of Regulatory measures has carefully adhered to these requirements, taking care to ensure that any proposed loosening of restrictions is made on the basis of the best available medical guidance and advice.
Both the provisions of section 31A and Regulations made thereunder are time-bound, being subject to sunset clauses to ensure that they are applicable for no longer than is necessary. Any extension of the date of operation (currently until 8 June 2020) or content of the Regulations is subject to consultation with relevant Ministers as well as relevant public health advice.
In the case of section 31A and associated amendments to the Health Act 1947 inserted by the provisions of the 2020 Act, any extension of the relevant provisions of the Act beyond 9 November 2020 is subject to a resolution passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.
The Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society & Business, published on 1 May 2020, sets out an indicative path to the easing of COVID 19 restrictions and other actions in order to facilitate the reopening of Ireland’s society and economy in a phased manner. It is anticipated that these changes will also be reflected through the evolution of the regulatory regime in place, so as to maintain alignment with the revisions being made to the public health approach.
