Arrivals from 58 countries are now subject to mandatory hotel quarantine after the updated list of high-risk states came into operation this morning.
Those travelling to Ireland from places like Israel, Palestine and Andorra must stay in the facilities for 12 nights at their own expense or else run the risk of jail-time or a fine.
Discussions are expected to continue this week on following advice from health officials on adding EU countries and the US to the list, despite opposition from some at the Cabinet table.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy believes the public health advice should be followed saying “If the public health advice is to say that people who have been vaccinated are then safe to come in and so on without quarantine, I would follow the public health advice on that and similarly in terms of the PCR testing but again I would follow whatever the actual public health advice is, that’s what we should do, but we shouldn’t deviate from it because of deal politics or the power of some of these countries”.
While local travel agent Tom Britton at Marble City Travel has told KCLR News “It’s always darkest before the dawn so the positives on the list are all but one country on the new list will have any great effect, Qatar is solo on this, it’s a key hub from Australia and Asia”.
He adds “Currently there’s no public discussion on how or when international travel in either direction will return or roadmap as to how it will be achieved”.
