Government to decide if it needs to change rules about international travel into Ireland

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The government is set to decide if it needs to change the rules about international travel into Ireland at a cabinet meeting later today.

It is after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was uncomfortable about horticulture workers

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189 fruit pickers hired by an agency in Bulgaria for the spring strawberry harvest in north County Dublin remain in isolation today.

Fruit company Keelings says they will not start work until two weeks from the date of their arrival.

It hires up nine hundred seasonal workers every year, and usually recruits in Eastern Europe - having received just a few dozen applications from people already living in Ireland.

On Friday, the Taoiseach said he was uncomfortable about the number of agency workers coming in, saying travel needs to be kept to a minimum.

He ordered an urgent review of the situation, with officials due to report back to the cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 today.

Mr Varadkar has already indicated that all passengers coming into Ireland need to be interviewed and says the government may yet change the rules on travel.

The current restrictions started on Friday, March 27. They mandate that everyone should stay at home, only leaving to:
• Shop for essential food and household goods;
• Attend medical appointments, collect medicine or other health products;
• Care for children, older people or other vulnerable people - this excludes social family visits;
• Exercise outdoors - within 2kms of your home and only with members of your own household, keeping 2 metres distance between you and other people
• Travel to work if you provide an essential service - be sure to practice physical distancing