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.

However, it said the cost estimate was based on an occupancy level of just 200 rooms.

The Health Amendment Act 2021, which provides for the MHQ system, is due to end on July 31 but department officials expect it to be extended.

The department said it was now conducting a competition for the provision of MHQ facilities to ensure there would be no gap in such services.

There is a continued requirement to provide for the mandatory hotel quarantine of persons coming into the State from certain areas from where there is known to be sustained human transmission of Covid-19 or any variant of concern.” 

Health officials said a minimum of 200 rooms will be required with a potential maximum requirement for 1,600 rooms depending on the number of countries placed on the “red list”.

The winning bidder is expected to provide a range of services including accommodation, transport, security, healthcare assessment and monitoring and interpretation services.

The new contract is set to take effect from early September.

The Department of Health said the initial contract will be for a two-month period at an estimated cost of €3.2m, with the possibility of extension of three-month periods up to a maximum of 12 months.

A leading hotel group, Tifco, is being paid more than €5.4m for operating the original MHQ contract, which covered a three-month period with potential extensions of another two months.

'Extreme urgency'

The Department of Health said Tifco was awarded the contract outside the normal public procurement process which requires high-value State contracts to be advertised in the official journal of the EU because of the “extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable”.

Fresh bids are expected from some of 11 different hotel, travel and event management operators who had declared an interest in providing quarantine facilities and other services before the scheme was first introduced in May.

Under the contract, Tifco is required to provide a central reservation system through an online portal for MHQ as well as providing full-board accommodation to visitors for up to 14 days.

The group must also provide shuttle services from ports and airports to hotels as well as health assessment and monitoring services which include two Covid-19 PCR tests during a 14-day stay.

Tifco must also arrange up to three supervised breaks daily for each guest in quarantine.

Individuals arriving into Ireland and entering mandatory hotel quarantine are required to pay €1,875 with a cost of €625 for each additional adult and children aged 12-17.

The cost for children aged four-12 is €360, while there is no charge for infants up to three years.

Tifco hotels being used for MHQ are the Crowne Plaza hotels in Santry and Blanchardstown, Clontarf Castle, the Holiday Inn Express in Santry and the Hard Rock Hotel on Exchange Street.

Other hotels also providing MHQ facilities are the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel on Golden Lane, the Croke Park Hotel on Jones Road and the Red Cow Moran Hotel on Naas Road.

61 countries on red list

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy has called for a review of the mandatory hotel quarantine system. 'If people are just walking out the door, it’s worrying.' File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

There are currently 61 countries on the designated list, with the vast majority based in Africa, Asia and South America.

The only European countries currently on the list are Russia and Turkey.

Social Democrats co-leader, Catherine Murphy has called for a review of the MHQ system including its security arrangements after a report in the Sunday Times revealed that the Department of Health had been notified that only 24 of 75 individuals who absconded from quarantine hotels returned “voluntarily” after gardaí intervened.

Ms Murphy said MHQ was meant to be a key part of the containment strategy for keeping numbers exposed to the Delta variant down.

“If people are just walking out the door, it’s worrying,” Ms Murphy remarked.