Overseas arrivals in Ireland are still required to isolate for 14 days.
Inews reports that Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that it is too soon for British holidaymakers to return to Ireland without being quarantined.
The country continues to ask overseas arrivals to self-isolate for 14 days and there are no signs that the measure will be lifted any time soon, with Mr Martin stressing that Ireland is taking a “very cautious” approach to international travel.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “In terms of people coming in to Ireland, the advisory and the quarantining still remains and it’s under constant review.
“Why? Because there’s a lot of international volatility with this virus, we’ve seen a spike in numbers. We’re very concerned about that.”
‘Still difficulties’
Mr Martin continued: “The suppression of the virus is key.
“We’ve watched reports where, in certain parts of the UK, there are still difficulties where certain areas had to go into lockdown and so on, and further severe restrictions.” The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is exempt from the quarantine arrangements,
permitting free travel between the two.
He maintained the Irish government was doing “everything we possibly can” to avoid a second spike of the virus in the Republic, where the reproductive rate of Covid-19 was found to have increased to one last week.
“Clearly the agenda for government is very much dominated by the continued prevalence of the virus and we’re watching very carefully what is happening across Europe in terms of spikes and in terms of experiences of other member states who have opened up earlier than we have,” he added.
New Irish premier
The leader of Fianna Fáil, the country’s dominant centre-right party, Mr Martin succeeded Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach (prime minister)
at the end of June. His appointment formed part of a historic coalition agreement including the liberal Fine Gael and Green Party.
(Story source: Inews)
