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The FERRY company Stena Line advocates for a promotion that allows students to travel home for free in early December, saying it is a means of stopping the spread of Covid-19.
Under the promotional title “Students ride home free this Christmas with Stena Line”, the company offers free passage across the Irish Sea with its economy or flexible motorist ticket, if you are traveling with another adult.
It comes despite a call from Tánasite Leo Varadkar to the Irish abroad not to book trips home for Christmas just yet, to prevent Covid-19 cases from returning to the country.
The British government’s handling of the pandemic has come under fire after the number of virus cases there soared to more than 20,000 a day in recent weeks.
“Right now, we are not in a position to warn people that it is safe to go home at Christmas,” Varadkar al Dáil said last Thursday.
“I know it is a difficult message to hear, but that is the case at the moment,” he said.
A spokesperson for Stena Line told Independent.ie that the travel dates for its promotion, only December 3-9, coincide with the UK university evacuation plan.
“They have identified that week as when they will evacuate all the universities. It is to stop the spread of Covid.
“The goal is to get the students home before Christmas, not on Christmas.
“If you go to university residences, you usually pay the term. They are returning to their residences, so it is an essential trip, “said the spokesman.
“In the UK they have identified a week in which they are going to evacuate all the universities.”
He said both the UK and Ireland are scheduled to come out of the lockdown by December 3, after which the traffic light system for travel will be operational.
The company’s promotion said that “now more than ever people are looking forward to Christmas and spending time with family and friends after months apart due to the global pandemic.”
He said the UK was introducing “travel windows” to help students get home.
“Family members can travel across the Irish Sea to pick up students and help drive them home while taking advantage of this offer.”
The company said it has continued to invest in various security measures aimed at “ensuring that ferry travel is the safest form of transportation.”
Online editors
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