Mr. Willie Walsh:

I am totally amazed. I cannot figure it out. It has been one of the things that has surprised me most about this. I thought Ireland would be quite the opposite, given that as a country we have always been so open to travel and given the number of Irish people who have had to move abroad for work, me included. I have not been able to go back to Ireland. I have not been in Ireland since February of last year. I used to travel into and out of Ireland regularly. I do not understand it. It is something we have to address. I think everybody understands that we had to take measures to protect people early on - I do not think anybody would disagree with that - but, given that we have seen things change, we have to move forward and recognise that as advances are made we should start removing the restrictions that are in place. I do not see what the fear is about allowing people who are vaccinated enter the country. There is very little risk associated with that, and the data show that. The number of people who have tested positive, having entered the country and gone into quarantine, is very low: 3% is not a figure I consider to be high in any way; 97% of people were fine. As I said, the data are consistent. There is a slightly different but a much bigger database in the UK, where the figure is 2.5%. The risk associated with that is perfectly manageable for a country like Ireland and a country like the UK without shutting down the economy and putting so many jobs at risk as a result.