Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the questions. The CMO was consulted. The matter was discussed at the Cabinet sub-committee on Covid. We were both present and we discussed it. I recall that at the time the CMO said he was not particularly concerned about international travel. As we get the numbers down, it becomes a greater concern for reasons which the Deputy will understand. I do not know exactly what type of formal oversight mechanism will exist. I will come back to the Deputy on that.

We are confident that we will have the 800 contact tracers in place and that will give us sufficient capacity to carry out whatever tracing is necessary. There are 650 in place already. In a situation where there are approximately 1,000 cases per day, tracing becomes really difficult. If we can keep the number of cases low, in the ballpark of 100 or 200, we will have more than enough tracers to do the job that needs to be done.

International travel is a risk. We need to be upfront and honest about that. We need to get the virus down to very low levels again. We are doing really well in that regard. We are ahead of the projects at the moment in terms of getting the virus under control. The average number of weekly cases is one quarter of what it was only a few weeks ago and the positive rate has fallen from 7% to 3.5%. The numbers are very much going in the right direction. There is a risk, however, that as we get down to very low levels again, the country could be reseeded with the virus by people travelling in from overseas. There is an even higher risk that if people engage in North-South travel - because a different approach is being taken in Northern Ireland - we could be reseeded as a result, This type of travel probably poses a much higher than people travelling here from Qatar, Miami or wherever. We need to bear in mind that Ireland is an island but it is not an island state. There are two jurisdictions on this island. We are never going to close the border between North and South so we have to bear in mind that we are not in the same boat as other island nations might be.

We can limit risk but we cannot eliminate it entirely. That is why we have opted into the European system for international travel. It is advocated by the EU Commissioner for Health and backed by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control's data and so it is science-based. This creates regions that are green, amber and red. There will be no restrictions in respect of travel here from a green region but a person travelling from an amber region will need a negative test before arriving in order to avoid having to restrict his or her movements. A person travelling here from a red region will have to his or her restrict movements and undergo a test after five days. He or she will not have to restrict his or her movements if that test proves negative. We are considering what kind of legal mechanism we need to put around that because it is not mandatory or enforceable, and penalties do not apply. Perhaps, we need to do that. This is one of the issues we are discussing at the moment. There are also a series of exemptions for healthcare workers, diplomats and people engaged in imperative family travel and imperative business because those things have to go on.

In terms of people booking flights to come home for Christmas, I would advise them not to do so at the moment. I know that is difficult and I know it is tough. Christmas is six weeks away and it is too soon for people to be booking flights to come home. I was watching "Reeling in the Years" the other day. In 1967, there was an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in England and people were asked not to come home. They did not come home and foot and mouth disease did not spread to Ireland. I am not saying that it is the same now but we are not in a position at this point to advise people that it is safe to come home for Christmas. I know that is a tough message to hear but that is the case at the moment.

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