New legislation needed to enforce hotel quarantine rule

Passengers who arrive from Brazil and South Africa will face mandatory 14-day quarantine due to fears about new variants of the virus in those countries.

New primary legislation will be needed to enforce mandatory hotel quarantine, Cabinet has been told.

The meeting of the Government on Tuesday was told the requirement will mean a "short" delay to the enactment of the requirements, announced last week.

The Government last week agreed that those who do not provide negative pre-departure PCR Covid-19 test, as well as all who arrive from Brazil and South Africa, will face mandatory 14-day quarantine due to fears about new variants of the virus in those countries.

However, those requirements will not become law until the legislation passes all stages of the Oireachtas, which sources say will be in a matter of weeks. It is envisaged the legislation would be worded to allow for quarantine to be extended to passengers from the UK or EU if required.

It is understood there is some frustration in Government over the period of time between the announcement and the regulations going live.

The legal requirement for other passengers to quarantine for 14 days at home, on the other hand, can be dealt with within the current regulations and this should be in place within the coming weeks.

Cabinet also discussed a move that would require people landing in the North but intending on crossing the border to fill out a passenger locator form. The Cabinet discussion would allow for cross-border sharing of the data on the forms.