It has been revealed that caravan parks in Co Wexford have been under drone surveillance for weeks, as local officials look for tourists who should not be there.
The county council has redeployed its fleet of half a dozen UAVs from patrolling for illegal dumping to monitoring compliance with movement restrictions.
But after four weeks on patrol during the lockdown, drone operators have not found anyone to report to Gardaí.
Wexford Council spokesman David Minogue says people seem to be sticking to the rules.
“We have, since Easter, been carrying out this monitoring along the coastline,” he said.
“And I’m delighted, I must say, to be able to say that we have found very high levels of compliance and very little evidence of travel restriction breaches in these areas to date.
“We hope that will continue, particularly as we face into the May Bank Holiday weekend, but certainly our evidence would suggest that there is very strong compliance.”
The current restrictions started on Friday, March 27. They mandate that everyone should stay at home, only leaving to:
- Shop for essential food and household goods;
- Attend medical appointments, collect medicine or other health products;
- Care for children, older people or other vulnerable people - this excludes social family visits;
- Exercise outdoors - within 2kms of your home and only with members of your own household, keeping 2 metres distance between you and other people
- Travel to work if you provide an essential service - be sure to practice physical distancing
