Further EU countries to be added to Ireland’s quarantine list

France, Italy and Germany could join Austria on the list.

A person carrying balloons in the colours of the Irish tricolour at Terminal 2 of Dublin Airport (Brian Lawless/PA)

By Cate McCurry, PA

April 07 2021 11:20 AM

People travelling from some European Union countries could be forced to isolate in Ireland’s mandatory quarantine hotels.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan said that more EU countries are to be added to the quarantine list.

France, Italy and Germany could be included, with Mr Ryan saying the Government has been responding to the public’s concerns over the high rates of infections in those countries.

It comes as 26 more countries were added to the list last week.

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— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) April 6, 2021

As of 4am on Tuesday, anyone arriving in Ireland from the flagged countries must quarantine for 12 nights at a designated hotel.

Israel, Albania, Palestine, Bahrain, Nigeria, the Philippines, Monaco, Oman and Qatar are among the new additions.

Plans to include the US, France, Italy and Germany were abandoned amid division among ministers.

However, the Government now looks set to add some of those countries in the next week.

Italy could join the list in the coming days (Martin Keene/PA)

Mr Ryan said: “Additional countries will be added – for some people that presents a real burden but it’s a burden I think we’ll have to bear because we want to err on the side of caution.

“I would expect that a sort of decision like this would probably be approved by Cabinet next Tuesday.

“It would probably take us a number of days after that to implement whatever measures, but that’s what I was expecting.

“We are going to have to adapt because the numbers will change and therefore the circumstances will change and the advice will change, and we will have to be fairly quick and adapt.

For some people that presents a real burden but it’s a burden I think we’ll have to bear because we want to err on the side of caution.Eamon Ryan

“I expect the expert advice will show what we can all see in the daily numbers that the rate of incidence is very high and the concern about variance is very significant. So, we will heed that advice.”

Minister for higher education Simon Harris said that the public health advice on mandatory quarantine is necessary.

Speaking outside Government Buildings in Dublin, he said hotel quarantine presents challenges to people but added: “The virus doesn’t care whether you were abroad because you were a student or not a student.”

“The reason we have mandatory quarantine in place is to prevent new variants coming into the country.

#COVID19 cases in Ireland. If you develop symptoms of COVID-19 call your GP Out of Hours service immediately. #StayHome #StaySafe https://t.co/7GZdJOwl2e pic.twitter.com/XrjkaAnq8z
— HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) (@hpscireland) April 7, 2021

“It doesn’t matter whether that new variant is brought in by a student, a worker, someone on a holiday, that won’t matter diddly squat to people in this country if we bring in new variants.

“The approach we take is we follow the public health advice.

“The legislation is clear.

“At the moment there is only one European country on the mandatory quarantine list, and that is Austria.

Austria is already on the list (John Walton/PA)

“Obviously if that approach changes next week we will provide advice and information and also practical support to students returning from the other European countries.”

PA Media