Stay away – and give us all an Easter break

A Connemara doctor has accentuated the distress of angry locals who fear the area could be used as an unofficial bolt-hole for well-off city dwellers fleeing to their holiday homes to escape the Covid-19 pandemic – particularly over Easter.

It’s a fear that this week led to the Government signing emergency legislation to prevent an exodus to the coast; yesterday Commissioner Drew Harris launched Operation Fanacht, to ensure compliance with travel restrictions by posting permanent checkpoints on major roads across the country.

And this week Clifden-based GP, Dr Sophie Faherty, said locals would not forget people that have already visited their holiday homes in the area.

“You have increased the pressure on the food supply, the medical teams already overstretched, the staff in the shops and petrol stations.

“You have contributed to spread the pandemic to a rural area disregarding the rules. We know who you are and you will be named and blamed.

“We will not forget. You are the rich and privileged who think they can do as they please,” she said.

The doctor said that holiday home owners rushing to Connemara, have ‘invaded the beaches and roads with your big SUVs disregarding the recommendations’.

They have “no empathy, no courage, no respect for the people of Connemara, and our environment that you treat like a playground,” she added, in a post on the Connemara News Facebook page.

Galway West Fine Gael TD, Hildegarde Naughton has echoed Dr Faherty’s sentiments.

“I would ask everyone with a holiday home in the West of Ireland not to travel to it this Easter weekend,” she said.

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