Gardaí lack the powers to hold people at airport, says Coveney

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said the authorities do not have the legal entitlement to hold a person at Dublin Airport indefinitely. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said that the authorities do not have the legal entitlement to hold a person at Dublin Airport indefinitely.

Mr Coveney said that the figure of 80 people who had arrived into the country recently without a negative PCR Covid test reflected less than one per cent of arrivals and that there was “very strong compliance” with the PCR test requirements.