People are being asked not to visit the Glen of Aherlow this bank holiday weekend unless they are living locally.
It follows a number of instances of people driving to areas like Christ the King during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Helen Morrissey of the Aherlow Fáilte Society says they are normally trying to get people to visit the Glen.
However she says now is not the time:
“We know what the regulations are, we know what we’re supposed to do. It’s to stay home, to stay safe basically.
“I think for most people, and I know when I’m at home I feel safe.
“We hope it’s only for another month or six weeks – even if it’s 2 months that you have to stay away from these places. But in the long-term it will be worth it because then we will be able to reopen and people will be able to come back and I hope they’ll come back in great numbers, please God.”
It comes as an infectious disease specialist says this Easter Weekend can’t be our Cheltenham.
There are now just over 6,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus here and 235 people have lost their lives.
Gardai will be enforcing emergency legislation over the next few days to ensure people comply with the 2km and social distancing rules.
Dr Paddy Mallon, from St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, says it’s vital people stick to restrictions this weekend:
“If everyone in the centres – the population centres in the East, for example, that are very heavily affected by the coronavirus – if they all decided to take off for the weekend, then this weekend would be our Cheltenham.
“So we would be sitting here in two weeks in an absolute disaster. But if everyone just sits tight, we could be sitting here this time next week, seeing the rates of hospitalisation and the rates of new infections really starting to drop off quite quickly.”
