Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of travel restrictions under Covid. We all know the Government has quite correctly put in place restrictions on people travelling abroad and within the country. We are told it is acceptable to travel in circumstances where that travel is for essential purposes. Again, I have no difficulty with this.

The difficulty arises in the definition of what are essential purposes for travel. I have been contacted by councillors and their constituents regarding whether a particular scenario constitutes essential travel. I have no guidance as to what essential travel means. To give an example, I was contacted by a young man who is married to a South Korean national. They are expecting their first child around St. Patrick's Day. She returned to Korea before Christmas as they have planned to have the baby there, near her family supports. He was due to travel to South Korea at the end of this month to be with her for the birth of their first child. I believe this is essential but I cannot advise him that it is because there is no central reference point for me to find out what constitutes essential travel.

I would like us to establish an authority or reference point for elected representatives or members of the public to check or verify what exactly constitutes essential travel, instead of having a situation where people have to book flights and then rely on the whim of a garda who might stop them at a checkpoint on the way to the airport. This is no reflection on gardaí because they do not have the guidance either. If we are telling people they can only travel for essential purposes we need to make it clear to people what essential purposes are. In particular circumstances that perhaps do not involve work but do involve an important personal event, such as the one I have described, we need to be able to give people certainty before they spend money, time and expense on travel plans.