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THE GOVERNMENT HAS warned that travel to Ireland is still being discouraged after it was announced that new travel rules for passengers arriving from the ‘red’ regions will go into effect later this month.
Yesterday it was reported that starting at midnight on November 29, travelers arriving in Ireland from the so-called ‘red’ regions of the EU will be able to move freely once they pass a Covid-19 PCR test five days after their arrival. .
This provision will also be available for arrivals from orange regions that have not made use of a pre-departure test.
The measure could have a significant impact on people traveling on Christmas as it will limit the number of days people have to spend in isolation once they arrive.
It comes after the government adopted the EU traffic light system last month.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, the Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne TD, warned, however, that travel is still discouraged.
“We are not encouraging travel … we are not encouraging people to come to the country unless it is necessary,” Byrne said. “So the situation hasn’t really changed.”
Byrne said that “it is important to remember that we are still in the Level 5 restrictions” and the measure was a “mechanism to open trips” into the future.
Byrne stressed that the government will not provide any state capacity to provide PCR testing to arriving passengers and said it cannot give any guarantee that the testing will be available to people traveling home at Christmas.
“This is not about Christmas,” he said. “If that evidence is not there, we will continue to tell people to restrict their movements for 14 days.”
The cabinet, however, agreed that the Dublin Airport Authority will receive a planning permission waiver to allow it to set up Covid-19 testing at the airport site.
In terms of a testing regime in Ireland, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has said the government wants to ensure that such a system does not hamper HSE’s capacity.
He told an Oireachtas committee last week that he is confident such a testing regimen could “be done quite quickly.”
He said the government has engaged with the DAA, which has engaged with about 20 vendors that can supply Covid-19 testing.
Ryan said he hopes the private sector will provide the evidence.
Speaking this morning, Byrne said it would not be possible to divert HSE’s testing resources to facilitate testing for incoming passengers. “This will depend on the individual,” he said.
Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan warned last week that it is too early to say what the situation will be with regard to traveling to Ireland at Christmas, as it depends on “many factors that are simply unknown at this time.”
“International travel is not safe and the movement of people in areas with a high incidence of this disease, particularly in Europe and North America, is not safe,” he said.
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Government sources have said that despite NPHET’s concerns about opening travel, it is a government decision for Ireland to align itself with other European countries in terms of reopening aviation and travel.
On November 29, the new rules will go into effect for those wishing to travel from or to Ireland.
The Department of Foreign Relations sets government policy on travel.
The department states that if you are considering traveling outside of Ireland, it continues to advise against non-essential travel abroad, except to countries that are part of the EU’s ‘traffic lights’ approach, where the advice is to exercise a high degree of caution, this includes Great Britain, but not Northern Ireland. ‘
Asked this morning about the risk of infection imported into Ireland via travel, Byrne said it will be vital that passengers traveling from the ‘red’ regions can show a negative test result after five days or restrict their movements for 14 days.
“It’s still a pretty strict standard,” Byrne said, adding that the government has not examined the evidence available in the private market.
“We keep saying that a PCR test is the test that people will have to perform,” he said. “This is not an open door for travel.”
With information from Christina Finn
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