Results 4,541-4,560 of 10,460 for speaker:Gerry Horkan

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: Every recommendation involves a request for a report.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: Recommendations Nos. 11 and 12 are related and may be discussed together.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: Is the Senator asking for leave to withdraw her recommendation?

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: The Minister, without interruption.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: Apologies. We have been in and out of the Seanad voting a couple of times. I have read all of the submissions and heard most of the opening presentations but I might not have heard all of the questions, so if I repeat something, the Chairman might let me know. Much of what I was going to ask has been covered anyway. Is there a medical reason for a 48-hour antigen test versus a 72-hour...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: Someone may have asked my next question but I did not hear the answer to it. I am not even sure if this exact question was asked. If someone flies over for the day to a Liverpool or Manchester United match, gets an antigen test before going and then mingles with 50,000 people in a stadium before returning, is the test he or she got before leaving valid?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: For example, someone could get an antigen test at lunchtime on a Friday, fly out on Saturday morning and fly back Saturday night or early Sunday morning and still be within the 48-hour window. If it was a PCR test taken on Friday morning, that person could come back Sunday evening. This may be a question for the Department of Health. While the announced restrictions have to do with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: It is not doing anything other than incurring a cost for people. If their tests are positive before they fly, they obviously should not fly but this mechanism will not necessarily pick up anyone who catches something on a short trip. It is just a cost to them and does not do much for public health that these people would not be doing anyway.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: For the departing flight but not for the returning flight.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: Does that have to do with the viral load?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: Everything that can be done to keep infectious people from infecting other people and bringing an infection that is not in the country into the country is positive, be they returning to Ireland or coming to visit, but there appear to be gaps in the system whereby people will get caught otherwise. Regarding the border management unit, there was a reference to 100 people being caught without...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: To less than 10% of those flights.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: Someone watching this meeting who was flying back on a Sunday night might decide that, since the likelihood of being checked is 1% or almost 0%, he or she will not bother getting a test.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: The point I am trying to develop is whether we have gone to the airlines, worked out what flights the 100 passengers were on and asked the airlines what was happening with their systems that they were letting these people through.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: What has been the outcome with the airlines? What are they saying? What is their response to having let these people through if they are supposed to be checking everybody?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: At a minimum, they had no documentation to prove they had been tested.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: It is a new system but, as the Chairman said, airlines are very used to checking boarding passes and passports. Many people have been caught, particularly by one airline that is very well known to most people, for not having passports. A passport is not a requirement for travel to the UK but the airline requires one. That is part of its terms and conditions. Airlines are very used to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: On that particular point, is it a requirement in law for airlines to keep passport data and so on? Is it already in law that airlines must check passports and keep data in that regard? I know that, with certain airlines, people key in their passport number, date of birth, passport expiry date and so on, so the airlines are collecting those data. Are they required in law to do that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: I know there is a different rule for the common travel area. People need photo ID, which may be work ID or some other form of ID and does not have to be a passport. The passport is also permission to enter a country, depending on where someone is from. If someone is an EU citizen or comes from certain other states, he or she is entitled to be here. The rules are there. People from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid Testing for International Travel into and out of Ireland: Discussion (8 Dec 2021)

Gerry Horkan: It is also important to say that the staff are protecting not just a passenger who could be committing an offence, but the rest of passengers on the plane who have all been tested and have been shown not to have Covid. If people have turned up without that proof there is less guarantee that they are Covid free than everyone else who has been tested. That is important. If I am getting on a...