Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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925. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons that arrived into Ireland in each week from 1 January 2021 to date and declared on the passenger locator form that they had been in a category 2 designated state in the previous 14 days; the number from each category 2 designated state in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13205/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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All passengers arriving to the State are required to complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form (PLF) in accordance with SI 45/2021. There are limited exemptions from this requirement, as set out in the regulations, such as for international transport workers, diplomats, etc. The Passenger Locator Form is used to support a system of engagements with arriving passengers including the targeting of public health messaging by SMS and may be used for contact tracing.

It should be noted that PLF data does not constitute formal arrival data into the country, due to the different intended purpose for the system and also the number of exempted persons as set out above. In addition, some passengers may complete a PLF in advance but be unable to travel as intended, and the data below may include some duplicates for certain travellers. Passengers may be completing a PLF and not staying overnight in the state or transiting onto Northern Ireland.

The designation of Category 2 states is provided for in SI 44/2021, with those Regulations coming into effect on 6^thFebruary 2021. Since then, a number of additional Category 2 states have been designated and the total number now comprises 33 states.

Numbers provided are for countries where a minimum number of 10 arrived from a Category 2 country, as providing any smaller numbers could risk identifying individual passengers. Where a passenger has declared that they have travelled in a number of Category 2 countries prior to arriving into Ireland, the most recent country is reported. Passengers will only appear once on this report.

The data below is an indicative number of passengers whose journey originated in a Category 2 state as well as those passengers that listed a Category 2 state in their recent travel history from 8^thFebruary to 7^thMarch. This data was not captured for January.

48,199 Passenger Locator Forms were completed 8th Feb – 7^thMarch from all countries of departure for relevant travellers.

8.6% of the Passenger Locator Forms indicated a category 2 country during this period.

Number of accompanying children U16 are declared on the PLF, further information is not recorded on these passengers.

The figures below are subject change due to ongoing data cleansing e.g. duplication where passengers completed the ePLF twice.

Other Countries*

Angola, Botswana, Bolivia, Burundi, Cape Verde, Colombia, Chile, DR Congo, Ecuador, Eswatini, French Guiana, Guyana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Suriname, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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926. To ask the Minister for Health the level of compliance in filling out the passenger locator forms on a weekly basis in each of the past five weeks; the number of forms which were correctly and incorrectly completed on a weekly basis, respectively; and the number of persons that refused to fill out the form on a weekly basis in tabular form. [13206/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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All passengers arriving to the State are required to complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator form, there are limited exemptions from this requirement for international transport workers, diplomats and children under 16. The Passenger Locator Form is used to support a system of engagements with arriving passengers including the targeting of public health messaging by SMS and email and may be used for contact tracing. Passengers may have completed a passenger locator form in advance of travelling and not travelled. Invalid paper forms may have illegible information including phone numbers or other essential information that is unclear and is required for follow-up. The paper form has been updated to an OCR form to improve legibility. Efforts continue to promote the use of the online form.

For the month of February a total of 51,629 Passenger Locator Forms were completed of which 93.6% were valid and 6.4% were invalid.

There have been no incidences of non-compliance notified to the Garda National Immigration Board during the month of February.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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927. To ask the Minister for Health the percentage of incoming passengers who declared an essential reason for travel in each week from 1 February 2021 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13207/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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All passengers arriving to the State are required to complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator form, there are limited exemptions from this requirement for international transport workers, diplomats and children under 16. The Passenger Locator Form is used to support a system of engagements with arriving passengers including the targeting of public health messaging by SMS and email and may be used for contact tracing. Passengers may have completed a passenger locator form in advance of travelling and not travelled.

Since 6^thFebruary the reference toCouncil Recommendation (EU) 2020/1475 on a coordinated approach to the restriction of free movement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was removed from the PLF and the declaration on essential travel no longer recorded.

From the 1^stto 7^thof February inclusive a total of 12,659 Passenger Locator Forms were completed of which 46.3% claimed the essential travel exemption.