impact of the covid-19 pandemic on crime in the republic of ireland impact of the covid-19 pandemic on crime in the republic of ireland the covid-19 pandemic in the republic of ireland has impacted the country's judicial system. several people were arrested for covid-19-related offences, while prisoners were released. two operations, operation fanacht and operation navigation, were launched. part of a series on thecovid-19 pandemicscientifically accurate atomic model of the external structure of sars-cov-2. each "ball" is an atom. covid-19 (disease) sars-cov-2 (virus) cases deaths timeline 2019 2020 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november responses december responses 2021 january responses february responses march responses april responses may responses june responses july responses august responses september responses october responses november 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it also set up a national covid-19 unit located at its phoenix park headquarters. on 20 march 2020, minister for justice charles flanagan announced that immigration permissions set to expire from 20 march to 20 may would be granted a two-month extension. he also announced the temporary release of prisoners. the irish naturalisation and immigration service on dublin's burgh quay shut due to the virus and applications instead went online. asylum seekers in the east of the country were rendered homeless after spending time in hospital with the virus; "health sources" informed the irish examiner that one man was forced to spend further time in hospital than he needed and a second man was "left to fend for himself". on 18 april, after persistent rumours, an outbreak of the virus was confirmed amongst asylum seekers who had recently been housed in a hotel in the southwestern town of cahersiveen; management agreed to confine the asylum seekers to the hotel so as to protect the local population, though they had been using local supermarkets and pharmacies before this date, to the annoyance of local business and community leaders whom the hse had promised it would notify of any outbreak but who did not find out until they approached the hotel. locals protested, asked for it to be shut and called for an inquiry into how the asylum seekers had been moved there from elsewhere amid a pandemic. flanagan's private secretary wrote a letter to a local politician informing him that those managing such centres had been asked to improve their standard of cleaning. asylum seekers in cahersiveen continued to display symptoms and test positive for the virus into may. in mid-may, minister flanagan issued an open letter to the people of county kerry, with particular reference to the residents of cahersiveen, acknowledging the hardship they had experienced as a result of the presence of the asylum seekers in their town and outlining the infection control measures that were in place to deal with the problem. local newspapers in the county carried the letter. the letter was four pages in length and the irish examiner called it an "unprecedented" apology. prisoners were reported to be willing to work with prison officers to prevent their exposure to the virus. social distancing measures in prisons included visible marks, the closing of gyms and recreation halls, inmates being fed in smaller groups and visits from outside disallowed. deep cleaning occurred, the plates and mugs were replaced with hot food in single use cardboard containers. another consequence of the virus was that less drugs found their way into the system, or as one prisoner put it: "it's not only harder to get the drugs in, it's harder to get the drugs, full stop". this was attributed both to the restrictions and the heavier garda presence on streets. on 7 april, minister for health simon harris signed regulations under provisions inserted in emergency legislation passed earlier, to restrict movement of persons and the holding of events, effective 8 to 12 april. this move, which harris confirmed on prime time, gave gardaí extra powers to coincide with the easter period. on 10 april, these measures were extended to 5 may. on 28 april, it was reported that 76 people had been arrested for failing to comply with gardaí policing the pandemic. on 12 may, gardaí reported having had to use their emergency powers on 192 occasions between 8 april (the first day) and 9 may. on 19 may, gardaí reported using emergency powers 241 times between 8 april and 16 may. on 13 may, garda hq circulated a letter announcing the suspension for budgetary purposes of overtime available to serving officers in certain cases. on the morning of 18 march, masks were distributed to gardaí, with instructions to wear them during time spent in enclosed spaces (such as in vehicles or on public transport) and during prolonged contact with others (though not in the open air or at checkpoints). on 10 june, it was announced that not a single prisoner among the country's prison population of 3,705 had tested positive for covid-19. on 22 august, a 23-year-old woman in dóchas centre became the first prisoner in ireland to test positive for covid-19. on 29 september, following crime figures published by the central statistics office, the number of burglaries dropped by 52.8% between march and june, coinciding with the imposition of covid-19 restrictions. on 30 october, the irish prison service confirmed an outbreak of covid-19 at the midlands prison after five inmates tested positive for covid-19. on 5 january 2021, the irish prison service announced that five prisoners in loughan house open centre in county cavan tested positive for covid-19. on 17 february, the irish prison service announced that three prisoners in the midlands prison tested positive for covid-19. on 10 may, the irish prison service confirmed that an outbreak of 19 cases of covid-19 had been identified at mountjoy prison. on 10 november, cloverhill prison in dublin announced that it was responding to a suspected covid-19 outbreak, after the irish prison service confirmed that one prisoner tested positive for covid-19. assaults assaults of coughing and spitting were rife. they occurred nationwide, in the capital city dublin, and were also recorded in the counties of cavan, cork, donegal, dublin, kildare, louth, roscommon, sligo, tipperary, waterford. on 23 march 2020, a man appeared at blanchardstown hospital, saying he had covid-19 symptoms and wanted to be tested. he proceeded to either spit or cough at a nurse, who was then forced into self-isolation—it later emerged that her attacker was covid-19 positive. on 24 march, a man and a woman launched a coughing attack into the face of minister for health simon harris near government buildings, his assailants then running off laughing. on 28 march, 32-year-old tariq jagoe from killiney spat at others on board a dublin bus and told gardaí he would give them covid-19 when they were called to the scene of the disruption at lord edward street in the city centre; a judge cited the virus in his objection to bail and ordered jagoe to be given a covid-19 test when he learned that he had not yet received one. rachel conway from caltragh in county sligo coughed at a garda and was sentenced to 28 days imprisonment, meaning she was the first person jailed for a covid-related offence. gardaí ordered 16,000 spit hoods (to cover the face of suspects inclined towards these acts), and warned the public that anyone caught would be charged with assault. on 28 april, garda commissioner drew harris said that—since 8 april—gardaí had been spat at or coughed-on on 31 occasions and that spit hoods had been required on 15 occasions. on 5 may, harris said that between 8 april and 2 may, gardaí had been spat at or coughed on on 52 occasions and that spit hoods had been required on 28 occasions. on 9 june, harris said that between 8 april and 6 june, gardaí had been spat at or coughed-on on 93 occasions and that spit hoods had been required on 70 occasions. on 14 march 2021, two men in their 20s were charged after three gardaí were assaulted following a house party in milford, county donegal on 13 march. other offences on 21 march 2020, gardaí in longford were called to a house where a 21st birthday party was underway to disperse dozens of young people who gathered in violation of social distancing. a burglary in late-march on the lé george bernard shaw—docked at sir john rogerson's quay along the river liffey in dublin to offer assistance to the health service executive—led to the arrest of a man and a prompt appearance before court. on 31 march, €70,000 of suspected heroin was seized during a covid-19 patrol on the m8 motorway in fermoy, and one man arrested. on 6 april, more than €51,000 of suspected cocaine was seized during a covid-19 patrol in waterford, and one man arrested. an underage session being conducted by the gaa via zoom was "hacked and bombarded with pornographic images" in early april; gardaí received word of the incident. in mid-april, martin stokes of clondalkin, who had failed to reappear at court three years previously to face charges of tax fraud dating from 2006, 2008 and 2011 (and to which he had pleaded guilty), was arrested while travelling around during the restrictions in april; the judge refused bail. on 15 april, 24-year-old denis constantin of enniscorthy in the southeast of the country became the first person charged with breaching the two-kilometre movement restriction when he appeared before a court in gorey; the judge refused bail after gardaí had twice stopped him while driving over the previous (easter) weekend in a position that was more than two kilometres from his home: close to bunclody on good friday and close to new ross on the morning of easter monday. he was also charged for driving with no licence or insurance while disqualified. he was jailed for 3 months for breaching the two-kilometre movement restriction.