Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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1977. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide clarity on medical or humanitarian grounds for exemption from quarantine (details supplied); the decision making process behind making judgements on such cases; if travellers can apply for same pre-travel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19476/21]

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, regardless of vaccination status, unless they are an exempted traveller under the Act.

A specific exemption is defined under the Health Act 1947, as amended by the Health (Amendment) Act 2021, for a person "who travels to the State for an unavoidable, imperative and time-sensitive medical reason and that reason is certified by a person who is a registered medical practitioner or a person holding an equivalent qualification outside the State".

The provisions of the Act also allows for travellers to request a review of decisions relating to their quarantine; however this can only be undertaken once quarantine has begun. This might include a review in relation to medical or other exceptional reasons. Such reviews are undertaken by an independent panel of appeals officers. All decisions on such appeals are to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

Neither I as Minister for Health nor my Department have a role in decisions relating to whether individual persons must enter mandatory quarantine or whether individual persons are exempted travellers.