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Ryanair and Dublin Airport have responded to concerns raised about a flight chartered by a North Dublin fruit company to bring strawberry pickers to the country from Bulgaria.
Flight FR6015 arrived at Dublin Airport from Sofia on Monday April 13 and was chartered by Keelings Fruits.
Details of the flight that brought dozens of workers across the continent emerged tonight, sparking outrage, and a Dublin Live reader said the move “completely circumvents this blockade,” reports Dublin Live.
The company released a statement confirming that it had flown into seasonal staff and that “they will not be asked to work without a full 14-day restricted movement.”
Meath County Councilman Alan Lawes revealed yesterday that he had been provided with details of the flight and asked how social estrangement could be observed on the plane.
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A Ryanair spokeswoman said: “This was a charter flight for a private company. Ryanair complied with all regulations established by EASA and WHO on these special flights.”
A daa spokeswoman “The state’s travel and health policies regarding COVID-19 are decided by the Irish Government and the Dublin airport has been in full compliance with those guidelines since the beginning of the public health crisis.
“In accordance with Irish government policy, Dublin Airport is open as an essential service for the import and export of vital cargo, such as medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, and for the repatriation of Irish citizens and residents.
“As the key agency in relation to Irish health policy, HSE has staff at the airport and all arriving passengers, whether Irish residents or not, are being informed by those HSE staff that they need to restrict their movements for 14 days upon arrival and also follow current Irish government guidelines regarding movement restrictions.
“The Department of Health and HSE has said that airport entry detection does not work and that the WHO or the European Center for Disease Control do not recommend it.”
“This is why HSE officials are not carrying out airport controls in Ireland. Like all airports in Europe, we follow Covid-19 travel policies established by our respective national governments.”
In a statement released Thursday night, Keelings was instrumental in leading workers to ensure the ripe fruit was harvested on time and to ensure there was no food shortage.
The statement said: “It is essential that we have adequate on-farm staff to pick crops quickly as they mature, or we risk market shortages.
“The Keeling family is very proud of our amazing team of people at Keelings who are working very hard and living up to our responsibility to ensure that there is a complete supply of fresh fruits and vegetables for everyone.
“Throughout our business, we have also worked tirelessly to implement government and HSE guidelines to ensure that we are protecting the health of all of our people.
“This includes comprehensive and repeated Covid19 safety instructions and instructions to follow all HSE guidelines, including 14 days of restricted movement for any newcomer to the country, before starting work at Keelings.
“A very important part of our workforce for many years has been our skilled seasonal workers who come back to us to help us gather our fruit and manage the health of our plants.
“Without these seasonal workers it would be impossible to bring fresh Irish strawberries to the Irish market.
“We understand the concern in the current environment regarding both social distancing and local employment.
“We want to assure the public that we are doing everything possible to help support local employment at this time and ensure the safety of all of our workers.”
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