Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The failure to introduce a mandatory post-arrival hotel quarantine for international travellers arriving in the State has been well flagged. It is a glaring omission in the Government's plan to contain the importation of cases of Covid-19 and is a decision which must be reversed. There is, however, another glaring omission, namely, the failure of the Government to act on the advice of NPHET and the Chief Medical Officer, CMO, with regard to ending discretion in the taking of a post-arrival PCR test by all international arrivals. NPHET has said that its modelling shows that even the best performance in respect of pre-departure Covid-19 tests will miss up to 40% of cases. I know the Tánaiste avoids answering my question but perhaps he will try to answer this one; why has the Government chosen to ignore the advice of NPHET and the CMO as to the issue of post-arrival PCR testing? Will it introduce a mandatory requirement for all international arrivals to take a PCR test post arrival, as recommended by NPHET?

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