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ONE HUNDRED PASSENGERS have entered Ireland without a negative Covid-19 test since new rules were introduced on Sunday, an Oireachtas committee has heard.
Fears over the Omicron variant brought about the introduction of fresh restrictions on travel, requiring all travellers to Ireland from overseas to have a negative PCR or antigen test.
The Oireachtas Committee on Transport heard today that since the rules came into effect, 100 passengers arriving at Dublin Airport have been referred to gardai for failure to comply.
Those arriving without tests were required to undergo a Covid-19 test and self-isolate.
Despite the arrival of passengers without negative tests, the committee heard there were no penalties for airlines that failed to ensure their passengers had valid tests.
“The obligation in the first instance rests with the travelling passenger, but the airline at the point of boarding carries out checks that each passenger has a receipt indicating completion of the passenger locator form and a negative test,” said Fintan Towey, assistant secretary at the Department of Transport.
There is a legal obligation for carriers to carry out the checks, but it’s not a penal provision. So carriers don’t commit an offence if they allow a person to board inadvertently without the required test.
Towey said it was likely that legal issues would arise if it was made a criminal offence for airlines that failed to ensure passenger compliance.
“What we’re trying to ensure is that we have a system that works and provides appropriate levels of safeguards,” he said.
“I think that if we wanted to devise in legislation an offence provision, in relation to the role of carriers, I think that would bring us into a lot of legal difficulty, in seeking to identify exactly what the requirements would be, and what an offence might be for carriers.
It would also open up the issue of what kind of data retention carriers might need to engage in order to defend their conviction, in terms of checks that might be carried out in relation to any individual or passenger.
Oonagh Buckley, assistant secretary at the Department of Justice, said there was generally a “very high level of compliance” among passengers and airlines.
She added: “The new requirements or checks have only been in situ since the early hours of Sunday morning.”
“In that time, though, to offer some reassurance to the committee, some 80,000 passengers had immigrated through Dublin Airport.
In that mix, we checked more than 10% at all times. But in fact, in many flights, we checked 100% of passengers. We referred in those three days only 100 people to An Garda Siochana for failure to comply with the test requirements.
She said that of that number, around three-quarters arrived in Ireland from Great Britain, in small numbers and spread across numerous flights.
“The majority would have been on Irish airlines,” she said.
She added: “I can’t really say how they got through. We’re not standing over boarding procedures in other airports, in other countries.”
She said that throughout the pandemic “there will often have been one or two, people do manage to get through”.
“It’s not that that’s deliberate, it’s just that people are rushing or people are busy,” she added.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that there’s anything particularly malign about it in that regard.”
Committee chairman and Fine Gael TD Kieran O’Donnell called on the officials to engage with the airlines on the need for substantive checks.
“I’d ask you to engage with the airlines that fly those routes, to reinforce the need for proper testing, checking, prior to boarding,” he said.
“The fact that it’s the UK, our nearest neighbour, means that they are regular flights.”
He added: “We’re placing a huge burden on people returning to Ireland, in terms of now testing.
“If that burden is there when it comes to getting PCR and antigen tests pre-departure, then it’s only fair that the system operates.
“You don’t want to have a situation where someone slips through with the Omicron variant undetected while there’s a huge burden placed on the rest of the population.”
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I commented on another post a couple of days ago that I travel internationally for work and I have not been checked for vaccine status or a PCR test in Ireland, at all, over 3 months back travelling. That’s 6 flights from the US and Canada and another 5 from the UK and Brussels and I wasn’t asked once in Ireland to show vaccination or a test, that being said it differs per flight and airline what way they check. In the UK you need to provide the test details on your locator form and show vaccine status as you enter so I’ve been checked every single time there but not once in Ireland. The restrictions are totally useless if hundreds upon hundreds of people per week can just walk in carrying the virus.
@Local Ore: I flew and took the ferry several times in the past year and half, not once I was asked for my test coming into Ireland either.
@Local Ore: if you carry the virus in your checked bag you should be fine
@Malachi Shanks: Absolutely, it’s worked so far. Also, the little sealed duty free bag, that they put your drink in, is great it keeps it tidied away for later.
@Local Ore: only if your travelling within the EU , otherwise customs might have an issue with your virus’s…
@Local Ore: I flew into the UK today. No checks at all even fir passport.
@leolaup: You were flying from Ireland so you didn’t need a locator form and the UK does not require passengers from Ireland to prove vaccination status. I fly from the US, Canada, Brussels, recently also flew from The Netherlands and Germany – every time passenger locator form was required and had to show vaccination status for the UK. As I said, I haven’t been checked yet coming into Ireland but I do know a few that have and a few that haven’t so it really depends on the airline, staff, etc.,
worth chancing it then
@ed w: It is not about getting away with it….it is about having a sense of responsibility
Ten per cent. Why can’t they check everyone?
@Brianto: They have to board 200 people in 20min, they have no tools to check or validate them, anyone can show any QR code really, and finally I’d say half of those passenger probably didn’t even know that a test was required…
@Sigfrid Blanc: they do have tools to check qr codes same way they check the passenger locator form and on top of that the antigen test sheet you get has your name on it and it has to be the exact same name that’s on your passport so I’m not sure where your getting that information but I had to do it the other day before a trip…wasn’t asked for it all the same
@Brianto: I can’t see why they don’t. I was in Spain in October and everyone was checked on arrival- QR codes and multiple temperature checks
@Sigfrid Blanc: anyone traveling internationally should be fully aware of the conditions of travel. It’s not rocket science
@Michael: Yes, they do have tools, but they have no staff.
End the restrictions
A sham of a situation whereby potentially infected individuals can waltz through our airports in unknown numbers and when things get out of hand with cases as a result, the locals have to endure restrictions or lockdown.
Either make this system work or forget about restrictions full stop. Why should Irish citizens and businesses face restrictions or lockdown because somebody wants a winter round of golf in the Canaries or a weekend away in an East European City’s Christmas Market.
Abolish landing charges until Covid-19 is over with (carrot) and fine any airline guilty of bringing a Covid-19 positive passenger into the jurisdiction €100,000 per infected passenger (stick). Watch how quickly the airlines cop themselves on.
@LaoisWeather: Agreed and your comment regarding rounds of golf and Christmas markets could equally apply to a certain Irish provincial rugby team travelling to Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the least vaccinated regions of the world. Irresponsibility in the highest degree.
Unbelievable. The EU COVID Digital Cert (issued for PCR Test) should be uploaded and automatically validated as part of the passenger locator form process. All that then needs to be done on arrival is scanning the barcode on the passenger locator form. It’s virtually frictionless and it’s how all other EU countries that I’ve been to check 100% of arrivals. It really is embarrassing that the people in charge of this are that inept.
Like everyone else I know whose travelled into Ireland during the pandemic, my vaccine cert and PCR tests have never once been checked.
*who’s
@James Pelow: no checks on passenger locator forms or antigen tests when you arrive in Netherlands so it’s not just Ireland
Flew home yesterday from UK with ryanair and they checked everyone had the negative test. Did make the flght feel that bid safer in fairness, well until we flew into Barra who nearly took us out of it on landing.
My wife and daughter were checked before they got on a flight to Ireland and the checkers refused to let two couples on that hadn’t got their covid pass so saying that the host country or airline can’t check it’s not true
@Noel O’Neill: Not that they can’t or won’t. A relation and their partner came through Dublin last week (two separate flights and two separate days) and neither of them were asked or checked for anything. The current situation is that airport authorities and airlines don’t see it as their job to police public health. They will probably do some spot checks (alluded to by the 10% reported in the article) just to “be seen to be doing something”. The reality is they don’t give a toss because they are getting nothing extra for the work.
@Noel O’Neill: I don’t think anyone said that but the reality is it’s down to the airline, the staff and how busy they are. I have genuinely flown to and through Ireland 11 times in just about 3 months and absolutely nothing was checked. I do know a couple of people who have been checked before getting on their flights coming to Ireland so it’s not that it’s never being checked, but I also know that none of the consultants in my team have been checked coming into Ireland so it’s not uniformly enforced. This article we are commenting on backs that up too.
Mandatory tests, Mandatory masks…. eh no sorry, I’ve an exception from wearing masks or taking tests, so I can’t possibly spread the virus.
If you’ve had two vaccine jab and a booster these tests at the airport are totally unjustified, and unnecessary
Flew from Vegas to Newark and onto Dublin on Tuesday. Checked everything twice. Even made sure test was taken within 48hrs of arrival I in Dublin. Some were turned away for no test and told to go to test centre for a rapid test before being allowed board. Lots of issues in Newark with people not having filled in locator forms and some no tests taken. Bloody nightmare. Put you off travelling and I think that’s exactly what the powers that be want to happen. Attendants on United warning passengers that if they didn’t keep their masks on during flight they woul report them to authorities on arrival
Few arguments on plane. Mad stuff.
No fines or any penalty? Surely this report is just encouraging people to chance it
In fairness, I came back to Dublin from Birmingham yesterday afternoon on the 16.35, and the 2 Ryanair staff members were not allowing anyone who did not have an Antigen cert into the boarding area. Several people, when I was waiting, were refused boarding and were advised to get the test and rebook on a later flight. Express downstairs offered it for £35, results in 40 mins, and there was a poster of a £12 test on the NEC site.
Not to mention the extra costs adding to your already expensive holiday. Tests in Dublin €69 per person and $125 per person in America and then the anxiety involved waiting for results of tests. Won’t be travelling again for a while !!
Just got a flight this evening from the UK and noticed one passenger with no locator form and no negative test. They let him on the flight and on arrival at Dublin Airport he was stopped at passport control. I’m not sure what his fate will be but it’s probable he’ll be let go but told to have to “self-isolate”.
Not much can be done unless logistically we have a 24-7 transportation service to a quarantine hotel at all points of entry.
Welcome to Ireland lol
So if I go to London for a short weekend break do I just book a pcr when I arrive so I can get the results in time for departure on a Monday afternoon for example. Can you get your results printed out or are they just emailed to you as I’ve seen people complaining on other forums that the results were never sent on after taking and paying for the test when they arrived back and were required to havd them within 2 days
@Hugh Mc Donnell: book the test for when you land in the airport, if you fly into Heathrow you get the PCR test in T2 Arrivals, Birmingham is downstairs, Leeds Bradford is easy to find too, just take it when you land. They will email the results to you within 24 Hours. In the UK ExpressTest is great, the test is a PCR fit to fly test and the cost depends on the location but it’s straight forward and only takes a few minutes when you land then you don’t have to worry for the rest of the trip.
@Local Ore: great thanks for the info
I came back in from Colonge on Monday evening, I was waved through by passport control because it was busy.
I had a negative test result, locator form, vaccine cert, none checked.
This is one reason we have growing cases in Ireland, lack of effort or care.
In Colonge, I was asked for Covid cert and identification everywhere, they are doing it right.
If your not vaccinated you are not allowed indoors, simple.
Wow! What a shocking headline! I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight…
The little gets.
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