It would appear that both the gardai and the government are in the firing line from social media users over a despicable charge that could end up seeing a retired couple who’ve worked the entire lives to help others end up spending time behind bars for going to Mass during lockdown.
Many people are saying that the gardai should be using their time to go after “real criminals”, while others are saying that the government don’t appear to be enforcing the same laws for Catholics and Christians as other religions. People are wondering why nothing appeared to come of a blatantly packed out mosque during lockdown with gardai even present in the location, in particular the mosque in Black Pitts, Dublin which appeared to be absolutely packed to the rafters with Muslims attending their service.
A retired couple in Roscommon have said they are prepared to face prison rather than pay a €300 fine imposed on them for travelling 70KM during the Covid-19 lockdown in order to attend Mass, reports the Sunday World.
Jim Ryan (64) a retired fireman and his wife Ann (59) a retired nurse, were convicted of the offence of travelling more than 5KM from their home on Palm Sunday, 2021 by Judge Raymond Finnegan at Cavan District Court but immediately appealed the ruling.
“I will go to jail before I pay it. I would rather go to jail, without a shadow of a doubt,” Mr. Ryan told the Sunday World.
“I have no intention of paying them a fine for me going to Mass – for doing what I have done my whole life.”
Social media users have been quick to point at that during the lockdown, Gardai enforced the closure of churches but were not as eager to enforce these measures on other places of worship such as Mosques, which reported to be full every Friday across the country.
On one occasion a packed mosque in Black Pitts, Dublin was reported to Gardai but strangely authorities have not pursued any kind of legal action against those in attendance or those who operate the Mosque for some unknown reason.
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