Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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684. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to reports that up to 80 persons arrived in Ireland from the UK and South Africa up to 17 January 2021 without having provided evidence of a negative Covid-19 test; the person or body responsible for ensuring that newly arrived travellers or migrant workers from the UK and European countries with high rates of infection, South Africa or South America self-isolate for 14 days; the means by which they will ensure such self-isolation takes place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3686/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The requirement on international passengers to have a pre-departure test is given effect by S.I. No 11/2021, Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) (Restrictions upon Travel to the State from Certain States) (No. 2) Regulations 2021. The regulations place a requirement on arriving passengers to present evidence of a negative test result to an immigration officer on arrival to Ireland. My Department and the Department of Justice are in regular contact on operational aspects of the pre-departure test requirement.

In response to the elevated risk presented by new variants of concern of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, the Government introduced more stringent measures applying to travel from Great Britain, South Africa, Brazil and other South American countries:

- Passengers arriving from these areas are strongly advised to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival.

- These passengers are also asked to contact a GP to arrange for a COVID-19 test as soon as possible 5 days after arrival in Ireland. The test will help to identify positive cases and for those to be sent to the National Virus Reference Laboratory for genome sequencing to see if variants of concern are identified in Ireland. If arranged through a GP, the test will be free of charge.

- Regardless of the result of the test, passengers who have travelled from Great Britain, South Africa, Brazil or other South American countries are advised to self-isolate for the full 14-day period.

My Department has issued regular text messages to bring this advice to the attention of passengers who have travelled from Great Britain, South Africa and Brazil. In the case of passengers travelling from Brazil, the texts issue in both English and Brazilian Portuguese.

On 26 January, the Government decided to implement new measures applying to international travel including mandatory quarantine and testing policies, measures to enhance North South cooperation on international travel and the suspension of visa free travel from certain countries. The detailed work to implement these policies is underway.