Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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2044. To ask the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) and their companion who are travelling abroad for vital medical reasons do not have to undergo mandatory hotel quarantining; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19678/21]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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2116. To ask the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) will be exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine on their return under the exemption travelling to the State for unavoidable, imperative and time-sensitive medical reasons and these reasons are certified by a registered medical practitioner or person with equivalent qualifications outside the State in circumstances in which the country they are travelling to for a certified medical treatment is added to the list. [19897/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2044 and 2116 together.

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.

Mandatory hotel quarantine is also necessary in circumstances where passengers coming from non-designated states do not provide evidence that they have a negative or ‘not detected’ result from a COVID-19 Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test carried out no more than 72 hours before arrival into Ireland.

At present, persons returning to Ireland from or transiting through high risk countries after receiving medical treatment abroad are not exempt from the requirement to enter the mandatory hotel quarantine.

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. All such decisions are to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

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.

The safety, wellbeing and comfort of all guests quarantining in a designated facility is a priority of the mandatory quarantine system, along with the ultimate goal of protecting public health by limiting the potential spread of COVID-19 variants of concern.

All guests undergoing mandatory quarantine in a designated facility are being provided with access to a 24/7 on-site healthcare team who hold clinical responsibility for their wellbeing during their stay. The on-site healthcare team are available to address any wellbeing concerns of guests through both scheduled daily check-in calls during a guest's stay as well as through direct engagement if requested. Guests requiring any specific, urgent or emergency care which cannot be provided on-site at a hotel may also be referred to a dedicated medical facility by the on-site healthcare team.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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2045. To ask the Minister for Health the expenditure on the track and trace programme for 2020 and to date in 2021, including costs paid to third parties and spent within the HSE. [19682/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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2046. To ask the Minister for Health the expenditure on the Covid-19 app for 2020 and to date in 2021, including costs paid to third parties and spent within the HSE. [19683/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The COVID-19 Tracker App has been a very successful national digital tool in the continued fight against COVID-19, supporting and speeding up the test and trace services response. The Health Service Executive has operational responsibility for the COVID-Tracker App and I have asked them to respond directly to the Deputy on this matter.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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2047. To ask the Minister for Health the person or body that retains the legal rights to transcripts, standard operating procedures and other intellectual property developed in the course of the track and trace programme. [19684/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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2048. To ask the Minister for Health the person or body that retains the legal rights to transcripts, standard operating procedures and any other intellectual property developed in the course of the Covid-19 tracker application or app programme. [19685/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I am advised that the Health Service Executive (HSE) holds the copyright to the software. The code and supporting documentation was 'open sourced' so that other publicly funded healthcare organisations could benefit from the work done in Ireland. Based on this decision other public health authorities such as the health service in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Gibraltar, Jersey, New Zealand and the US states of New Your, New Jersey and others, were able to tailor this code to provide a covid tracker app for their populations. The release of the source code and associated development material under an Open Source licence enabled use without restriction. Open sourcing the code also helped build trust with people here in Ireland as it provided transparency about what the app was doing and how it was managing data, thus encouraging high take up rates. The COVID Tracker App is a valuable digital tool that can be utilised by the public in Ireland to help in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

The licence information is publicly available and can be found at the following links, together with the associated documentation and the source code: