Image: Shutterstock/Peter Krocka Image: Shutterstock/Peter Krocka THE 14-DAY restriction on movement guideline for those travelling into Ireland could be waived under the government’s new Covid-19 roadmap for reopening the country.The Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the plan will be “all-encompassing”.
Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said he has asked his officials to look at the international experience to see what other countries are doing in areas such as testing arrangements for air travel. “The Government now has to start preparing for the next six, nine or 18 months – a medium-term approach – where, in the absence of a vaccine, we have to manage the virus. Within that, we will have to manage international travel,” said Ryan.
However, there are some around the Cabinet table that have queried the government’s approach and messaging around travel during the pandemic. One month later, the commission launched ‘Re-open EU’, a web platform that contains essential information to allow the “safe relaunch of free movement and tourism across Europe… and to help people confidently plan their travels and holidays during the summer”.
The Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn was recently asked in the Dáil Covid Committee about travel and cited a newspaper article that suggested 40% of recent cases in Germany were travel related. Glynn acknowledged it was not from a scientific publication.