Mr. Fintan Towey:

The Government made the decision in response to the threat that was emerging from the omicron variant. When any new strain arises, a limited set of tools is available as a safeguard against that new variant arriving into the country. Fundamentally, this amounts to pre-departure testing, some form of post-arrival testing or quarantine, whether that is at home or at a facility for mandatory quarantine. It is within that suite of options that the Government clearly took the view that the one that could be moved on most quickly and readily was pre-departure testing. That was in accordance with the views of the public health advisers.