Consular flights for Irish residents stranded in UK to be chartered by government

Travellers queue with their luggage in the departures hall at Terminal 2 of Heathrow Airport.

A minimum of two consular flights from Great Britain will be chartered by government to get Irish residents home to Ireland.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, and Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, announced the move on Monday evening one day after a 48-hour travel ban from Britain was announced due to fears over the spread of a new variant of Covid-19.