Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Currently, there are 61 countries on the red list. The vast majority are from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The only European countries are Turkey and Russia. As the richer countries get their people vaccinated, the mandatory hotel quarantine system impacts more heavily on those from poorer countries and, while certainly not exclusively, on people of colour. As time goes on this will increasingly be the case. Mandatory hotel quarantine will impact hardest on our migrant communities, again, especially those from Africa, Asia and Latin America and disproportionately on people of colour. It will not really be possible for the vast majority of people to travel for events like weddings and funerals. These are real impositions, especially when alternatives are available. Home quarantining is seen as something of a joke but that need not be the case. There is talk of €22.5 million being spent on extending mandatory hotel quarantine. If the bulk of that money was put into funding HSE quarantine check teams instead of outsourcing work to big private hotel groups, home quarantine could become a realistic option, focusing in particular on people travelling from areas where there are variants on concern.

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