A priest in Co. Cork has been warned by Gardaí that the authorities would “apply the full rigours of the law”, after he celebrated Mass with a small congregation, according to a report in The Irish Catholic.

“I mean, the reality is that the priest can be arrested based on my understanding of what was signed into law,” the priest said, “and that people flaunting the rules can be fined €400 as far as I know. But he [the garda] didn’t define what the penalty would be.”

The Cork priest described himself as a “conscientious objector” with regard to the restrictions on public worship.

“The churches are spotlessly clean: there’s hand sanitiser everywhere, people are social distanced and they’re wearing masks, why can’t we have maybe 20 people coming into a church which has a capacity for 500?” he asked.

He explained that he and another priest had been celebrating Mass publicly for the last few weeks. On average, ten people attended the Masses, which were also streamed on the church’s webcam.

“Obviously someone saw it on the webcam and… they got onto the guards,” he said.