Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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32. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if publicly available data is being collected on the nationality of those entering Ireland via flights from the United States of America. [16649/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Border Management Unit (BMU) of my Department does not record the data requested or any data on the nationality of persons arriving into the State.

Under Regulations made by the Minister for Health - Health Act 1947 (Section 31A – Temporary Requirements) (Covid-19 Passenger Locator Form) Regulations 2020, S.I. No. 181/2020 - the completion of a passenger locator form became a mandatory requirement on 28 May 2020.

While the first iteration of the Passenger Locator form developed by the Department of Health contained a question on nationality, the subsequent form, which was required to be completed when completion of the form was made mandatory in May, does not contain that question. From 26 August 2020, the electronic version of the Passenger Locator Form became available, with responsibility for follow-up work thereafter lying with the Department of Health.

In order to be helpful to the Deputy, information on the daily number of passengers arriving in Dublin Airport from the USA since 24 April 2020 was sought from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, which has advised the following:

Daily Passengers Arriving from the USA

The average daily total of Daily Passengers Arriving from the USA was 116 per day over the 134 day period from 24 April to 4 September.

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has also advised that -

- transfer passengers are not included in the arrivals statistics for airports as Ireland is not the final destination for these passengers who do not leave the airport before travelling onwards to their final destination;

- breakdown of arrivals into Ireland of Irish residents returning home or foreign residents visiting Ireland is not available; and

- all statistics set out above are provisional figures provided by the airports and are subject to change.