Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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298. To ask the Minister for Health the reason that only six and 15 guests can attend a wedding ceremony inside and outside, respectively while 50 guests can attend the reception for the same wedding; if the rationale behind this policy takes into account the size of the location in which the ceremony or reception is to take place; if persons who have been vaccinated can be treated as surplus to the permitted number of guests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28217/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, 50 people can currently attend a wedding service (both religious and civil) and 25 people can attend a wedding celebration or reception. On 29 June, Government announced the next phase of reopening the economy and society in line with Recovery and Resilience: The Path Ahead. While a number of higher risk indoor activities will not recommence as planned on the 5th July, pending the implementation of a system to verify vaccination or immunity status, it has been announced that, as an exception, weddings already planned will be allowed to proceed with the planned increase in the number of guests to 50 at the wedding reception with protective measures.

While significant progress is being made in relation to the roll-out of our vaccination programme and the current situation is broadly stable, the prevalence of the more transmissible Delta variant is rapidly increasing in Ireland and this poses a significant risk, in particular to those who are not yet fully vaccinated.

As we further ease public health measures, our approach must continue to be cautious, gradual and phased, with sufficient time between any easing of measures to assess the impact. This will be critical to ensure that our progress in controlling the virus is maintained.

Significant and sustained progress has been made on suppressing the virus over recent months due to the huge effort of people across the country. By working together, we have saved lives and limited the impact of the disease on society in Ireland. To protect the gains of recent months we must continue to practice basic preventative behaviours and to follow public health guidelines.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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299. To ask the Minister for Health if the position of mandatory hotel quarantine for incoming visitors from the USA will be clarified as outlined on correspondence by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28236/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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All adults who enter the State from abroad are subject to the Government's current travel restrictions upon arrival, unless exempted.

As of May 28th, persons arriving from the United States of America are no longer automatically subject to Mandatory Hotel Quarantine. However, they are still subject to other travel restrictions such as home quarantine, supplying passenger locator form information and ensuring they have evidence of a negative RT-PCR test which was taken in the 72 hours before arrival in the State.

Mandatory hotel quarantine is necessary in circumstances where passengers coming from non-designated countries 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.