Written answers

Wednesday, 28 April 2021

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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912. To ask the Minister for Health the cost of the pop-up walk-in Covid-19 test centres by test centre; the locations they are or have been in operation; the way in which the locations are selected; the number that have been tested in each test centre; the number of positive tests found in each test centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21380/21]

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen 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.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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913. To ask the Minister for Health if a person returning from a country on the red list who is returning to care for a critically ill relative can be allowed complete their quarantine other than in a mandatory hotel. [21383/21]

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen 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. All applicable travellers must reserve and pay for a place in mandatory hotel quarantine.

The list of designated states will be reviewed in line with the advice provided by the Expert Advisory Group on Travel (EAGT) to the Chief Medical Officer. The Chief Medical Officer considers EAGT recommendations and in turn makes recommendations to me when considering the designation of individual states. A full list of designated states can be accessed on gov.ie/quarantine.

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.  

A person in quarantine is entitled to apply for review of their quarantine. This process can commence once the passengers are in the designated mandatory quarantine facility and only for the limited reasons set out in the relevant legislation. One of the permissible grounds for appeal is ‘for medical or other exceptional reasons, including the necessity of providing care for any vulnerable person’.  Requests for review are submitted to the State Liaison Officer present in each designated facility and are considered by independent appeals officers. Decisions on requests for review are provided within a 24-hour period. The State Liaison Officer (Irish Defence Forces) in the hotel provides passengers with information on how to apply.

The Government continues to evaluate wider policy on international travel as informed by the epidemiological situation and public health advice. In this context, regulations have been introduced to allow fully vaccinated persons arriving from designated states to be exempt from Mandatory Hotel Quarantine. 

However, this only applies to persons who are ‘fully vaccinated’with an EMA-approved vaccine and there will be a requirement to quarantine at home following arrival into the State. Passengers who are fully vaccinated are also required to provide a negative pre-departure RT-PCR test taken in the 72 hours pre-departure and to complete a period of self-quarantine at home or wherever specified in their passenger locator form.

The following table sets out the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’;

Type of Vaccine You are regarded as fully vaccinated after
Pfizer-BioNtech 7 days after 2nd dose
Moderna 14 days after 2nd dose
Oxford-AstraZeneca 15 days after 2nd dose
Johnson & Johnson/Janssen 14 days after single dose

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 Government continues to advise against all non-essential international travel.

Photo of Michael LowryMichael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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914. To ask the Minister for Health if he is considering exemptions from mandatory hotel quarantine for persons who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 with Russian and Chinese manufactured vaccines; if the matter has been discussed with NPHET; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21386/21]

Photo of David CullinaneDavid Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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941. To ask the Minister for Health if consideration has been given to recognising on the basis of currently existing evidence some as-of-yet non-approved Covid-19 vaccines which are being administered in other states for exemption from mandatory hotel quarantine or if the evidence does not support this; if the HPRA has analysed the evidence of the effectiveness of these vaccines not in the context of approval for use here but in the context of reducing transmission and in considering exemptions from hotel quarantine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21478/21]

Photo of Pádraig O'SullivanPádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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945. To ask the Minister for Health if a vaccine (details supplied) will be added to the list of approved vaccines for home quarantine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21498/21]

Photo of David StantonDavid Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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947. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the recognition of the vaccination of persons who have been fully vaccinated with a vaccine (details supplied) and who plan to enter the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21501/21]

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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954. To ask the Minister for Health if a vaccine (details supplied) will be accepted as a vaccine to exempt visitors from mandatory hotel quarantine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21535/21]

Photo of Paul KehoePaul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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963. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider an exemption from mandatory hotel quarantine for a traveller from Abu Dhabi who has been fully vaccinated with a vaccine (details supplied), provides a not-detected PCR test and provides an antibody test proving sufficient immunity against Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21590/21]

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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981. To ask the Minister for Health if his Department is considering allowing international travellers that have a vaccine (details supplied) an exemption from hotel quarantine. [21670/21]

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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982. To ask the Minister for Health if he will address a matter raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding a Covid-19 vaccine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21672/21]

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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983. To ask the Minister for Health if he will address a matter raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding a vaccine. [21674/21]

Photo of Neale RichmondNeale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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984. To ask the Minister for Health if he has considered expanding the exemptions from mandatory hotel quarantine to include those that are fully vaccinated but not from vaccines that are approved by the European Medicines Agency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21682/21]

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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988. To ask the Minister for Health if persons travelling home to Ireland that have been fully vaccinated with a vaccine other than those approved to date in the European Union and have clear tests pre-departure and on arrival in Ireland will be exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21688/21]

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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1002. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to Irish educators based in Abu Dhabi that have received Covid-19 vaccines and wish to avail of a waiver from mandatory hotel quarantine; and the progress he has made to date to introduce a reciprocal travel arrangement with other states in this regard. [21751/21]

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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1003. To ask the Minister for Health the position in respect of Irish citizens that have received vaccines abroad and their requirement to go into mandatory hotel quarantine; and the rationale for this requirement. [21752/21]

Photo of Cathal CroweCathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1004. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to remove the necessity to undertake a hotel quarantine upon arrival in Ireland for Irish citizens living in the United Arab Emirates that have been fully vaccinated with a vaccine (details supplied). [21755/21]

Photo of Danny Healy-RaeDanny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1005. To ask the Minister for Health if a vaccine (details supplied) will be added to the list of vaccines already considered for exemption to the mandatory hotel quarantine given the efficacy of this vaccine is at approx. 73%; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21766/21]

Photo of Holly CairnsHolly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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1041. To ask the Minister for Health if persons that have received a vaccine (details supplied) will have to mandatory quarantine if they are arriving form a country on the quarantine list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22022/21]

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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1069. To ask the Minister for Health the reason those who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 with an alternative vaccine (details supplied) to those currently available in the EU are obliged to undertake mandatory hotel quarantine; the reason they will not be accepted in Ireland if these vaccines which have been approved by their country of residence and are approved by the WHO; if he has evidence that such vaccines do not work to suggest that they are not being accepted in the exclusions to mandatory hotel quarantine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22124/21]

Photo of Niamh SmythNiamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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1078. To ask the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) can enter Ireland without having to quarantine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22201/21]

Photo of Steven MatthewsSteven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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1083. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding Irish citizens returning home after residing abroad who received a non-EMA approved Covid-19 vaccine (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22226/21]

Photo of Joe CareyJoe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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1087. To ask the Minister for Health the work ongoing to recognise the Covid-19 vaccine sinopharm as an approved vaccine; the timeframe with regard to same; if approved, if persons in receipt of the vaccine will be eligible to avoid mandatory hotel quarantine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22240/21]

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 914, 941, 945, 947, 954, 963, 981 to 984, inclusive, 988, 1002 to 1005, inclusive, 1041, 1069, 1078, 1083 and 1087 together.

Mandatory hotel quarantine has been introduced as one element of Ireland’s public health measures to combat the transmission of COVID-19 variants of concern.

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. All applicable travellers must reserve and pay for a place in mandatory hotel quarantine.

The Health (Amendment) Act 2021 identifies those who are exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine and a full list of exemptions can be accessed on gov.ie/quarantine.

The provisions of the Act also allow for travellers to request a review of decisions relating to their quarantine; however this can only be undertaken once quarantine has begun.

The Government continues to evaluate wider policy on international travel as informed by the epidemiological situation and public health advice.

As of 17th April, passengers who are fully vaccinated and have the documents to confirm this are no longer required to complete mandatory hotel quarantine on arrival in Ireland. Dependents, including children, will also be exempted from the requirement to complete mandatory hotel quarantine in this instance.

Please note that the 4 EMA approved vaccines currently accepted have specific definitions for when a person would be considered fully vaccinated.

The following table sets out the definition of ‘fully vaccinated’;

Type of Vaccine You are regarded as fully vaccinated after
Pfizer-BioNtech 7 days after 2nd dose
Moderna 14 days after 2nd dose
Oxford-AstraZeneca 15 days after 2nd dose
Johnson & Johnson/Janssen 14 days after single dose

Passengers who are fully vaccinated and exempt from hotel quarantine are still subject to other travel restrictions, such as the need to provide a negative pre-departure PCR test and complete a period of self-quarantine at home or wherever specified in their passenger locator form.

Covid 19 vaccines can only be approved and used if they comply with all the requirements of quality, safety and efficacy set out in the EU pharmaceutical legislation. No vaccine will be used until Market Authorisation from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is obtained and any authorised vaccine will be subject to ongoing monitoring in Ireland by the Health Product Regulatory Authority (HPRA).

At present, neither the Sinopharm or Gam-COVID-Vac Covid-19 vaccines have received EMA approval.

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 Government continues to advise against all non-essential international travel.

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