Department to spend €22.4m to extend mandatory hotel quarantine system

Members of the Defence Forces meet passengers arriving in Dublin airport to escort them to mandatory hotel quarantine. File picture: Colin Keegan/ Collins Dublin

The Department of Health has said it could spend a further €22.4m over a 12-month period on an extension of the mandatory hotel quarantine (MHQ) system for people arriving in Ireland from designated countries.

The department had issued a tender for the provision of MHQ services, with the potential requirement for up to 1,600 hotel rooms.