Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on international travel. For the first time in almost a year and a half there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that is very welcome. The successful vaccination roll out to date in Ireland, Britain, across Europe and the United States has radically changed the outlook for international travel in a way that we all hoped it would.

As my party's spokesperson on transport and a Deputy representing the constituency of Meath East, I am very familiar with the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on the sector and its workers. I have been in touch with hundreds of those workers individually, and their representatives, over the past 14 months. They have had hours and pay cut and hundreds of jobs have been permanently lost. Pilots demonstrated yesterday and are demonstrating again today. Tomorrow, the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications will hear from cabin crew. They are frustrated with the Covid restrictions and fear for their future. They are equally frustrated with the lack of clarity from Government and the lack of a plan and details on the reopening of international travel, and when and how it will happen.

The lack of clarity and planning and always being behind, reacting and on the back foot is a constant feature of the Government's approach to international travel. Since the outset of the pandemic, Sinn Féin's position has been absolutely clear. We called for robust checks and controls at our ports and airports, including pre-departure and post-arrival testing, 100% follow-up and a support package for workers and the industry to protect jobs and strategic connectivity.

Last May, Sinn Féin called for temperature screening at airports, mandatory passenger locator forms, 100% follow-up and an all-Ireland approach. In June, we again called for this and for a traffic light system and international travel based on Covid risk profiles. In July we called for mandatory PCR testing. In September, when representatives from NPHET attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications, I called for antigen testing to be rolled out as an improvement on the voluntary and expensive PCR testing regime.

The Government did not do any of that. Instead, for the entirety of 2020 there was a complete failure by Government to do anything. Month after month we heard about passenger locator forms follow-up. The figures for this were 6%, 8% and 18%, which was, I understand, the highest rate recorded. It is incredible to think about that. We did not introduce mandatory testing for international travel until we were reporting 8,000 cases a day.

The failure on the part of the Government to implement proper safety checks and protocols at our ports of entry to show that international travel could happen safely led to a total breakdown in public confidence in international travel. With that track record, a Government at sea, public confidence on the floor, 8,000 cases a day and clear public health advice, the introduction of mandatory hotel quarantine was an inevitable and necessary measure at a time when we could not move 2 km from home, the vaccine roll-out had barely started and variants of concern were ravaging South Africa, Brazil and the UK.

ICUs were eating into surge capacity. As a temporary measure, a circuit breaker, that is, mandatory hotel quarantine, was necessary. It should have been matched with funding to protect jobs and strategic connectivity. Last week, the Minister and the Minister of State indicated that by the end of June the sector will have received €300 million in supports. At the weekend, that figure became €500 million. Even at that, it does not compare well with other countries. Who bears the brunt? Workers bear the brunt, particularly those who lost their jobs. Customers, who are waiting for refunds and vouchers or who lost money because airlines flew empty planes, also bear the brunt. The Government turned a blind eye to that.

From its lowest ebb, the sector is again looking to the Government. The safe return to international travel will have to be carefully planned and managed. No one wants to risk the gains and huge sacrifices we have made in recent months. It might be expecting too much from a Government that has failed at every turn to put the systems in place and build confidence in them, but there is reason to be hopeful.

Vaccines have changed everything and have presented us with opportunities. Data sharing will continue to be essential. The digital Covid-19 certificate will provide an opportunity in this regard. It is a single platform with Covid-19 status, vaccine, antibodies and negative tests. This can enable a safe return to international travel but we still do not know how or when it will be implemented here. There is speculation that there are IT delays. I ask the Minister and the Minister of State to address those concerns and ensure that we are ready. We also need to share data, North and South. There has been considerable Government resistance in this regard.

Testing will continue to be essential. The Minister and the Minister of State need to listen to the Government's chief scientific adviser. Professor Mark Ferguson appeared before the transport committee a few weeks ago and outlined the role antigen testing can play in the safe reopening of international travel. He pointed to international research in Britain, Italy and the United States. PCR testing is prohibitively expensive, is done 72 hours pre-departure and on its own, from a public health perspective, is limited. According to Professor Ferguson, the Government's chief scientific adviser, serial antigen testing, pre-departure and post-arrival in the context of continuing vaccine roll-out, can potentially replace the need for a PCR test and quarantine at home.

The transport committee and, as the Minister of State indicated, the National Civil Aviation Forum have been calling on the Government to pilot this. I ask the Minister of State to see that this happens. The fact that vaccine roll-out is most advanced in Britain, the United States and the EU, the places people from Ireland travel to and from most, offers an opportunity. We have to be continually mindful of public health advice and the patterns of Covid-19 spread. We also have to mindful of the potential pitfalls and, in particular, variants of concern. With the right systems in place, however, we can safely extract ourselves from the current restrictions, including home and hotel quarantine, as we all hoped and always intended.

This Government has always been on the back foot when it comes to international travel. On Friday, the hundreds of thousands of workers in the sector and related sectors will want to see a clear plan on how the systems will work and when they will come into effect. It is the least they deserve.

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