Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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724. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider regulations in relation to the recognition of PCR Covid-19 tests by airlines and at the Border by Irish officials; if it will be ensured when drafting these regulations that tests issued by competent bodies in public health systems are recognised, that passengers will not be obliged to take a test with a certain private operator tied to the airline or otherwise and that measures are taken to recognise or to verify tests with results in languages other than English or Irish; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5381/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Effective from 16 January 2021, all passengers arriving into Ireland from overseas have been required to present a negative or ‘not detected’ result from a pre-departure COVID-19 RT-PCR test that was carried out no more than 72 hours prior to arrival in Ireland. Passengers are asked to present evidence of their negative/‘not detected’ result before boarding their airplane or ferry and will be denied boarding if they cannot produce such evidence.

The following categories of travellers are exempt from requiring a pre-departure test result: International Transport Workers (including workers in aviation, maritime and road haulage sectors) travelling in the course of their duties, passengers transiting on to another country without exiting the airport and children aged 6 or younger.

The test requirement for international arrival is given effect under SI 11/2021, which defines a “relevant test result” as any electronic or written form of evidence or record that the person has been subject to a RT-PCR test, administered no more than 72 hours before the person arrived in the State, and that COVID-19 was not detected at the time of taking the test.