Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of international travel into the country, Ireland signed up to the EU-wide approach, namely, the traffic light approach. In common with all the other member states, we implemented that approach. On airport testing, the consistent public health advice is that it is not the right way to proceed. It is not recommended by the WHO or the ECDC. The firm view of our public health experts is that it is not the right way to test. The current situation is that inbound travellers, whether at airports or ports, cannot come into the country without a clear PCR test done up to 72 hours before travel. If they arrive without that, they are subject to prosecution and face a fine of up to €2,500 or six months in prison or both. On top of having a clear PCR test, those coming into the country must restrict their movements for two weeks. They need a clear PCR test on Day 5 and if they get that, they can be released from the two-week movement restrictions. Therefore they need to provide the results of two PCR tests, done between five and eight days apart, both of which must be negative. The situation for Britain and South Africa is different, in that two weeks mandatory self-isolation is required, regardless of any tests.

It is fair to ask whether we put the travel measures into place quickly enough, particularly in light of the emergence of the UK variant. I will outline the timeline in this regard. On the Friday before Christmas, the UK Government issued a warning stating that there was a highly contagious variant present in the UK. We worked through the weekend. Our public health officials were in touch with their UK counterparts and I was in touch with mine. On the Monday, the Covid committee met and recommended an immediate ban on travel from Britain, which was then extended to South Africa, based on the emergence of the South African variant that has also been detected here.

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