Health Minister Robin Swann has called for people who repeatedly flout Covid rules to be jailed, urging the Executive to give careful consideration to the matter.
urrently, there are a host of enforcement options being deployed by the PSNI.
Community Resolution Notice (CRN): The lowest form of enforcement, in this instance an individual receives a warning.
COV4: Formerly categorised as COV1, these penalty notices can be issued to those 18 and over for a number of reasons, such as indoor or outdoor gatherings breaching the allowed maximum number of people. Fines start at £200, which will be reduced to £100 if paid within 14 days.
COV2: The PSNI say that in effect this penalty amounts to a ‘warning’ for the purposes of stopping a person from continuing to breach the regulations. This category of enforcement is broken into two types of prohibition notices: Penalties issued to commercial premises such as shops, hotels and licenced premises; and the other is issued for restriction of gatherings in private dwelling.
COV3: This category covers those who fail to isolate and will cost those who flout the rules a £1,000 fine.
COV5: These fines can now be issued to a business and/or premises as required for breach of the regulations, starting at £1,000 to a maximum of £10,000. Officers can impose this penalty for a number of offences including not closing a business or premises as required, breaching the early closing requirements for hospitality and not implementing measures to maintain social distancing or participating in a large gathering/unlicensed music event.
