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There are “compelling legal reasons” why the government cannot implement a mandatory hotel quarantine system for all incoming passengers, said Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
He told Dáil that the Constitution had a clear framework in terms of personal liberties and liberties and that a “balance” was required which should be “robust in terms of resistance to legal challenges.”
Mr. Martin said a balance had to be struck between “people’s personal freedoms, legal enforceability and penalties” and that they were receiving “comprehensive legal advice”.
He came under sustained pressure from Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and the joint leader of the Social Democrats, Róisín Shortall, to explain the difference between quarantine at home and self-isolation in his bedroom.
Martin said the government cannot monitor people in their rooms in line about quarantine versus self-isolation.
“How do you control someone in your room,” he asked, “in terms of common sense and practicality around law enforcement?
The state plans to introduce a mandatory hotel quarantine for incoming travelers without a negative test for Covid-19 or from Brazil and South Africa, but legislation is required to force passengers to spend 14 days in a hotel, a process that will take several weeks. . Martin said the legislation “will be introduced quickly.”
Ms. McDonald criticized the government’s response “very lax, very careless and very inadequate” and asked “where is the urgency and sense of purpose” with 101 deaths reported Tuesday “a historic low”.
He said that “the clearest message that can be sent for non-essential travel” was the mandatory quarantine of the hotel.
“Why, in the name of God, are you resisting something that is so obviously necessary?”
However, the Taoiseach said the government could not monitor people in their homes.
The joint leader of the Social Democrats, Róisín Shortall, asked the Taoiseach “what exactly are you talking about?”
He said that confirming that people could not be watched in their homes meant that there should be a mandatory 14-day quarantine at the hotel for incoming travelers.
Ms Shortall said that “the issue of mandatory quarantine in hotels is absolutely essential and we should do it for everyone.
“I cannot understand why he will not accept that policy that has proven to be so successful in other countries that have operated that he simply has not given any explanation for it.”
Labor leader Alan Kelly said mandatory hotel quarantine was necessary for all arriving passengers. Home quarantine “is a waste of time.”
Self insulating
Earlier, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said that people living in shared accommodation must isolate themselves in their rooms for 14 days when they return from abroad.
On Tuesday night, Donnelly said on television that people returning from a trip abroad had to self-quarantine at home, not in their room, creating confusion about the policy.
Labor Party leader Alan Kelly said Donnelly’s comments Tuesday night were “very disturbing.”
Speaking to Pat Kenny’s show on Wednesday, the minister said “the point of this is that you have to isolate yourself from other people that you can put at risk.” He said people who enter the state and live in shared accommodation put other people at risk, so they must stay in their room. However, families or other people returning together were already mixing with each other in order to stay in their homes.
He said that people living in shared accommodation would be advised to isolate themselves in their rooms, but “the law does not extend to the house to tell you which room in your own house you should stay in, so we have to work with people and trust people ”.
He said the regulations would be signed today or Thursday, to introduce mandatory home quarantine “which is something really serious, it is an indictable crime.”
At a press conference on Wednesday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar appeared to contradict Donnelly. When asked if people who come to the state with a negative PCR test could mix with other people living in the home and if those in homes who are not quarantined can leave the building, Varadkar said: “Yes, I could. “.
Mr Varadkar added: “You are talking about people who have not tested positive for Covid. If at this moment you are someone who has tested positive for Covid, at this time you should isolate yourself.
“But if you are a close contact, you must restrict your movements. So this is the equivalent of someone who is a close contact. Yes, they have come from abroad, but they have tested negative. ”
Mr Varadkar’s spokesman has been contacted to clarify the apparent contradiction.
Current HSE advice says that passengers arriving from Britain, Brazil or South Africa should isolate themselves in a room. Arrivals from other countries, except the North or countries listed as green by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, have to stay home.
Varadkar said that introducing mandatory quarantine in hotels was “a big logistical operation” that would involve security and people detained in a locked room for 14 days. He said they should be provided with meals and that there are problems related to their mental health, medical care and tests.
“All of these things must be done and done well and correctly,” he said. He said charging quarantined passengers for their stay also requires primary legislation.
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney called on opposition parties to support the primary legislation required to implement mandatory hotel quarantine for incoming passengers.
“If the Dáil cooperates, then this can be done quickly,” he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Fines
New regulations have already been introduced to increase fines for people who violate existing Covid restrictions, increasing fines from € 100 to € 500 for people who travel outside of 5km from home without a valid excuse.
The Garda said it had detained 280 people traveling to or from Dublin airport over the weekend without a valid excuse and imposed the fine of 100 euros. As of Monday, the corresponding fine amounts to € 500. Officials said people could be fined on leaving and on the return trip. If several people share a car, they can all be fined separately.
Officials said that anyone who refuses a garda instruction to abandon their trip could be charged under public health law and fined up to 2,500 euros if convicted and / or sentenced to six months in prison.
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