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THE CABINET HAS been told that legislation is required to enforce rules on mandatory quarantining in hotels, delaying the government’s plans to introduce the measure.
Regulations around the requirement for arrivals to quarantine at home are set to be published in the coming days but the plans for hotel quarantine will take a number of weeks.
Last week the government sought to clamp down on travel into and out of the country and announced its intention to introduced a system of mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals.
In the majority of cases this legally required quarantining would take place in a residence but some would take place in a hotel.
Anyone traveling to Ireland is currently required to have a negative PCR test before boarding a flight.
Persons arriving from Brazil and South Africa or those without a negative PCR test will be required to quarantine in a designated facility such as a hotel, with that quarantine lasting for 14-days.
The government had said last week that it could take “a few weeks to operationalise” the new travel restrictions but Cabinet heard today that new legislation would be required to keep people in hotels.
Work is underway on that legislation and it is hoped it would be brought to government “as soon as possible”.
The need for primary legislation is needed due to concerns over competing rights related to civil liberties and freedom of movement. Such concerns were raised previously and led to a reluctance to introduce such measures.
A government spokesperson said today that guidelines will also need to be drawn up about the requirements of those being kept in quarantine.
“The State must also ensure the safety, health and well-being of quarantined travelers for the duration of the quarantine. This will include the need to ensure appropriate arrangements in relation to such matters as healthcare, nutrition, exercise and security,” they said.
While arrivals from Brazil and South Africa will first be subject to the 14-day quarantine rules, the Taoiseach has said that other countries could be added to that list if required.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said this evening that any expansion of that list would be based on advice from European counterparts and the Chief Medical Officer.
A government spokesperson said this evening that the legislation being drafted would allow for other countries to be added to the list without further legislation.
The legislation will also lay out the responsibility of those staying in the hotels to bear the cost of the quarantine.
Home quarantine
While it may be weeks before legislation around mandatory quarantine in hotels is published, regulations requiring people to quarantine at home are expected to be published in days.
People will be required to quarantine for 14 days in the residence listed on their passenger locator form, but this quarantine can end if they receive a negative PCR test taken five days after arrival.
A government spokesperson confirmed that this regulation also applies to arrivals from Great Britain.
There had been confusion over the status of arrivals from Great Britain due to HSE advice to quarantine for a full two weeks but it’s not been confirmed that GB arrivals are in the same category as those from countries that are not South Africa or Brazil.
Yesterday it was confirmed that the penalty for people travelling to the airport for the purposes of travel was increased to €500.
Previously people caught at the airport were dealt with under regulations against non-essential travel from home and were subject to a €100 fine. A total of 280 people received such a fine between Thursday to Sunday.
Foreign travel
With the government’s plans for mandatory quarantine not yet up and running, opposition parties have already said it does not go far enough.
Labour’s Alan Kelly described news from the UK that the dominant variant was picking up new mutations as “deeply concerning”.
“We need to see mandatory hotel quarantine for everyone travelling into Ireland with PCR tests upon arrival and after five days. These new variants can come from anywhere, not just the country of origin. If we are serious about eradicating Covid-19 from our communities, quarantining of all arrivals must be mandatory,” he said.
Richard Boyd-Barrett TD of People Before Profit told reporters earlier that it “mystifying” that the government would not pursue a Zero-Covid strategy.
“We find it mystifying that the government and NPHET would not see the value of trying to eliminate community transmission so that we could have some possibility of opening up in a sustainable way,” he said.
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they were told by NPHET to prepare this last May
@steve white: Emergency legislation required now for MHQ for all arrivals!
It could only happen here ……
@Austin Doyle: Isle of man are restrictions free, Scotland has announced 14 day hotel quarantine for anyone outside the UK. Our lot just give excuses.
They make a show out of it.
At the beginning of the pandemic measures it was called out.
There were only ‘recommendations’ not to travel.
Then travel was called safe but recommend not to do.
Then we got a traffic light system
Then in September Leo was making first statements about allowing travel for christmas time
In November NPHET was already not so keen about
Then the people arrived from hotspots for Christmas
And now AFTER the fact they want to look into it again because travel is not safe
Did I got it right?
@Vanessa: Just missed out the bit that while citizens are getting stopped and fined near the Airport, our government will be doing all they can to get this agreed at some stage, maybe.
@Eamonn Martin: Oh yes… thank you for adding it. It sure adds to the chaos.
Weeks before it’s implemented. 11 months after it should have been implemented.
It seems like everything has to go through a bureaucratic circus in this country before anything can be done. Ever. BusConnects still hasn’t even started being implemented 3 years after it’s been proposed. We need to change how the civil service and bureaucratic machine works in this place if we’re to get anything done or catch up with Europe.
@Tomo: It is deliberately done this way to stall or avoid making decisions. A decision means responsibility and accountability for delivery and the incompetent people lifted into these positions deffo don’t want responsibility just the goodies
Wait until a few more hundred die. No rush Ted.
Australia lockdown no questions asked, quarantine people in hotels at their own expense here we have to check we can legally do the same thing!!!
@Cathal O’Byrne: oz paid for hotel quarantine initially and then withdrew payment after a period putting the onus on the patron to pay
@Chewey Bacca: $2500 roughly for each adult in hotel quarantine in Oz for the 14 days
A year later! If it wasn’t so serious the utter incompetence would be laughable! Truly we are governed by an incompetent kleptocratic class
Looney Tune government. An absolute joke. Nphet running the show and the kids in power have no idea how to implement anything. Faulty Towers springs to mind.
They won’t do anything untill mm comes back from his st Patrick’s week in the USA. They don’t want to spoil his holiday
I thought we had emergency legislation in place to allow the government to introduce new measures as required. Seems every other country can introduce quarantine without a song and dance about it. What’s wrong with our legislative process that everything takes so long to introduce. Just as well we are not at war. We would have surrendered by the time we mounted a defence.
It’s amazing how quickly they can enact legislation when it suits them. This obviously doesn’t suit them. This government is a farce.
It didn’t take them weeks to pass legislation for ” THE BANK GUARANTEE “. That was passed overnight. Just get the legislation passed, do what this government needs to do, and quick. People are dying because of bloody legislation. Cop on and cop on quickly!!!
Dragging their heels. Disgraceful
It’s part of your job as ministers, get it done. And fast.
Another failure for this failure of a government.
No rush guys, take your time. It’s only been a year
And to think they’d the guts of 8 to 9 months to lay the foundations for quarantine measures but sure nothing surprises me anymore. Always reactive never ever proactive, horse has long bolted.
The can pass pay rise legislation in hours !!
This is a disgrace. Huge public support for full quarantine measures at point of entry. Government so slow to do anything. If we lockdown travel less chance of mutations in our small population and more chance of getting back to some normality. Thousands dead since Christmas due to poor decisions.
‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’ seems an appropriate summary
Legislation for fines for being beyond 5km, to close pubs/shops etc. was very quick and rightfully so. No need for it to take so long
Sigh
GOVERNMENT of MUPPETS
Dragging their heels because their business buddies who depend on cheap foreign labour
It’s a red herring in my opinion firstly nobody will be allowed on board at the point of origin without the required negative pcr test,secondly they have suspended visa free travel between Brazil and South Africa so they won’t be getting in I can safely say that the numbers required to quarantine at a hotel will be miniscule so they might declare City West as the only facility in the state for the mandatory quarantine I’d be fairly certain no other hotels have been approached the vast majority of incoming travellers will be “In quarantine” in their place of residence.
@patrick o keeffe: the mutations in the uk are most worrying now. All arrivals need to be quarantined in hotels to protect lives. Nobody quarantined at home at Christmas. Emergency legislation is required now.
@Marlnor: and if full mandatory quarantine was introduced how long do you think it should be in place for? Should it include vaccinated people and/or people who have had covid before and can prove they have antibodies?
Something as simple ashttps://www.9news.com.au/national/victorian-government-pushes-to-extend-state-of-emergency-return-to-work-capacity-expanded/75d97746-072e-4a74-9805-b22c1a2f707e
@Robert Mc Manus: Does Ireland have a mechanism to declare a State if Emergency, to push through legislation in an emergency? Victoria declared a State of Emergency for the forest fires and covid last year, they even declared a State of Disaster during lockdown #2. It is quite clear Ireland has past the emergency stage and is in crisis/ disaster territory.
Why I am not surprised? Acting fast would make sense but let’s do the mandatory quarantine in Easter when the p1 mutation has been well established in Ireland. We did the same with b117 which now accounts for the majority of infections…
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