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The government has come under severe criticism for the lack of Covid-19 testing at Ireland’s airports six months after the pandemic.
inn Féin TD Darren O’Rourke said the situation is “shameful”.
Labor TD Duncan Smith said it means “there is still no real light at the end of the tunnel” for aviation workers whose jobs are at risk.
It came when the Dáil debated the impact of Covid-19 in the transport sector.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said the priority in the coming weeks and months is to ensure the safe operation and return of domestic and international travel to protect jobs.
He said aviation was one of the “worst affected sectors” with a dramatic drop in the number of people flying here and around the world, which has affected airline and airport workers.
He said: “The question of when the aviation business can resume in a meaningful way is clearly linked to the evolution of the virus, current restrictions and warnings, as well as the overall economic outlook.”
Ryan pointed out the general supports that aviation companies can take advantage of, such as the low-cost pay, grant and loan scheme, as well as the establishment of an aviation task force.
Meath East TD Mr. O’Rourke said little specific supports have been implemented for an industry employing 140,000 people.
He said that some European governments such as Germany and Italy have made loans or taken shares in airline shares and asked if the government here would do the same with Aer Lingus “to prop it up.”
He asked what plans the minister has to provide financial assistance in the budget to airports, citing the challenges Cork and Shannon face.
And he criticized the absence of Covid-19 tests at airports.
He said: “Six months after the pandemic, it is embarrassing that we still do not have testing capabilities at our airports or even the most basic temperature control of arriving passengers.
“People fill out a form and they are literally on their way.
“You will not find a less restrictive process anywhere in the world these days,” he said.
Dublin Fingal TD Duncan Smith also noted that there is still no testing regime at airports.
He said Health Minister Stephen Donnelly told TDs in early August that the government was working on this.
“That was almost two months ago,” Smith said.
“It appears that there has been no progress on that.”
He said that Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said last week that it is necessary to carry out checks and tests prior to departure, but that this would be a long way off.
Mr. Smith asked Mr. Ryan to imagine hearing these things like an aviation worker and added: “We are so deep in now that there is still no real light at the end of the tunnel.”
He referred to the news that Germany has imposed additional restrictions on Irish passengers traveling there.
“If we were to fly to any airport in Germany, we could take advantage of a free Covid trial,” he said.
“They have that in place right now.
“We don’t even have anything like that at the airport in our capital, it doesn’t matter at our regional airports, which are also struggling in this pandemic.”
He asked Mr. Ryan to “take real leadership” to solve the problem.
Smith said workers “want a path they can believe in and they want to know that in a few months they will have work to do and a livelihood to earn.”
Ryan later responded by saying that the question of testing at airports is “critical.”
He said that it is necessary to maintain connectivity and that “we have to make things easier for people who have to go for business or personal reasons.”
Ryan said adopting a proposed common European approach is the best option because it allows for reciprocal agreements.
He argued that the issue of tests at airports has been “difficult” because the Government has been receiving different advice with the health service at one point saying that they did not want it to happen because there were “difficulties that arose with that.”
He said Ireland supports the European Commission’s proposal for a system of traffic lights of countries included in the green, amber and red list, but this will not be agreed until October 13 at the earliest.
Mr. Ryan said in the meantime: “We have to build or see where we can get the testing capability.
“There is a limit to testability around the world today.
“So we are looking at that, we are trying to try … to make sure that if there is an agreement with the European Union on the Commission’s approach, then we can adopt the red and amber mechanisms.”
Online editors
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