Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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366. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons that arrived here in each week from 8 March 2021 to date and declared on the passenger locator form that they had been in one of the 33 designated states in the previous 14 days; the number from each designated state in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18027/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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All passengers arriving into the state are required to complete a COVID-19 Passenger Locator Form (PLF) in accordance with SI 45/2021. There are limited exemptions from this requirement, as set out in the regulations, such as for international transport workers or for diplomats. The Passenger Locator Form is used to support a system of engagements with arriving passengers including the targeting of public health messaging by SMS and may be used for contact tracing.

It should be noted that PLF data does not constitute formal arrival data into the state, due to the different intended purpose for the system and also the number of exempted persons as set out above. In addition, some passengers may complete a PLF in advance but be unable to travel as intended, and the data below may include some duplicates for certain travellers. Passengers may have completed a PLF and continued their journey without staying overnight in the state or having transiting onto Northern Ireland.

The data below is an indicative number of passengers whose journey originated in a designated state as well as those passengers that listed a designated state in their recent travel history from 8 March to 21 March. This is the most recent date with validated data. A total of 33 states are designated by the Minister.

26,118 Passenger Locator Forms were completed 8th March – 21st March from all countries of departure for relevant travellers.

5% of the Passenger Locator Forms indicated a designated state during this period.

The data provided below is where a minimum number of 10 arrived from a designated state, as providing any smaller numbers could risk identifying individual passengers. Where a passenger has declared that they have travelled in a number of designated states prior to arriving into Ireland, the most recent state is reported. Passengers will only appear once on this report.

The data in the table below includes the number of accompanying children under 16 declared on the PLF. No further information is recorded on passengers under 16 years of age.

The figures below are subject to change due to ongoing data cleansing e.g. duplication where passengers completed the PLF twice.

*Other states -

Angola, Botswana, Bolivia, Burundi, Cape Verde, Colombia, Chile, DR Congo, Ecuador, Eswatini, French Guiana, Guyana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Suriname, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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368. To ask the Minister for Health if the private security contractor overseeing compliance in mandatory hotel quarantine has expertise in or has had training specific to policing quarantine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18029/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Mandatory Hotel Quarantine service provider is required to provide a Private Security Authority (PSA) licensed contractor to be always present at the Designated Facilities. The service provider must ensure that all personnel who carry out a security function comply with the licensing requirements of the Private Security Authority and must comply with the Private Security Services Act 2004.

The licensed private security contractor has a 24/7 on-site presence at each designated facility. The private security services are required to ensure that guests adhere to all infection prevention and control protocols during their stay, and to ensure access to the hotel is controlled. Should a guest attempt to leave the facility without permission before completion of quarantine, security personnel are required to report any such incident to the facility’s State Liaison Officer immediately and to An Garda Síochána.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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369. To ask the Minister for Health if a person who works on rotation of five weeks on an oil rig 200 miles off the coast of Brazil and five weeks at home will have to go into supervised quarantine each time they come home; if not, if they are considered a seafarer carrying out their employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18037/21]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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370. To ask the Minister for Health if persons returning from red listed countries who have a vaccine certificate will have to go into supervised quarantine for two weeks at their own expense; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18038/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Health Act 1947, as amended, provides that all persons arriving in Ireland from a designated state, or having travelled through a designated state in the previous 14 days, are required to undergo mandatory quarantine in a designated facility unless they are an exempted traveller under the Act.

A National Oversight Group for Variants of Concern has been established to monitor and address the challenges posed by variants of COVID-19, including the potential for a difference in the effectiveness of various vaccines against those variants. Quarantine of persons arriving from areas with a high incidence of variants of concern is considered a deterrent against the emergence of such variants in the state and as such all persons arriving from those designated states are required to undergo mandatory quarantine in a designated facility, regardless of vaccination status, unless otherwise exempt.

The designation of states will be subject to ongoing review in line with the provisions of Section 38B of the Health Act 1947, which was inserted by the Health (Amendment) Act 2021.