A THIRD of all people in Ireland are breaking Covid-19 lockdown restrictions on a regular basis by travelling more than 5km from their home, figures show.
Data compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicates that the Irish public aren't following the rules as strictly as they were previously.
It's estimated that 66.7% of the population stayed within 10km of their homes during the week ending February 12.
Current rules state that you should stay within 5km of your home unless you have an essential reason not to like travelling to work or caring for a relative.
So while a third of the population is deemed to have travelled beyond the 10km mark, the number of people travelling beyond 5km is likely much higher.
According to the CSO's Staying Local Indicator, Dublin is the county with the highest percentage of the population following the travel limit rules, with 79.7% of people staying with 10km of their home.
An estimated 66.7% of the population stayed local (within 10k of home) during the week ending 12 February 2021 according to the Staying Local Indicator (SLI), a seven-day rolling averagehttps://t.co/HuVdYQys9a #CSOIreland #Ireland #COVIDIreland #Health #SocialImpact pic.twitter.com/RrNSvDOJZo
— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) February 22, 2021
The CSO said this reflects Dublin's urbanised nature and access to services, compared to other counties.
"Propensity to stay within 10km of residence tends to differ by county, as movement is impacted by local circumstances and conditions, such as access to services and levels of urbanisation," a CSO spokesperson said.
"For example, Dublin, with a high level of urbanisation, consistently shows the highest percentage of persons staying local, while Mayo and Roscommon, with low levels of urbanisation, have the lowest percentage of person staying with 10km of home."
