Hotel quarantine return possible due to threat of new Covid variant

Helen McEntee said that if the variant requires the reintroduction of hotel quarantine, that could happen. 

The Government could reintroduce hotel quarantine as it "moves quickly" to counter the threat of a new Covid variant coming from South Africa, the Justice Minister says.

Helen McEntee said if the variant requires the reintroduction of hotel quarantine, that could happen. 

However, Ms McEntee said the Government has "always ensured Irish people could get home" throughout the pandemic. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today that she “proposes, in close coordination with the member states, to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region”. 

Responding to the call, Ms McEntee said: "I think what Ursula von der Leyen and the EU Commission are trying to do here is act as quickly as possible. 

"It's only in the last few days that this new variant seems to have emerged and while we're still learning about it, the early indications would show that it is potentially more transmissible and more able to evade the vaccination. 

"The Commission has proposed in coordination with member states because it would activate an emergency brake to stop all traffic from the southern region, while still allowing European members and citizens to travel back home if that's what they need to do.

"I think we need to act quickly here. I do think we need to continue to engage and the WHO are meeting today to discuss that further. Our own Department of Health is monitoring this. 

"We're currently engaged with our colleagues in the North and the UK because we've seen yesterday they have already made moves around travel. We're going to need to move rapidly here."

Ms McEntee said the Munster Rugby team will be able to come home, but did not rule out the possibility that people arriving in Ireland would have to quarantine.

"We've always tried to make sure that irrespective of the situation that Irish citizens and that EU citizens could come home and we put certain brakes on other countries outside of the EU in actually coming into the country. 

"So if we need to move quickly here, be it with the introduction of hotel quarantine, then I think that's something that we need to do that would obviously allow people to come home.

"[Munster players quarantining] is a possibility.

"We've seen so quickly in the past few variants be the beta or the Delta variants, how quickly they travelled, how quickly they move, the implications that they've had for the country, but right across Europe and the world. 

"So I think we learn from this to be pandemic as time has gone on, and I think we need to make sure that we continue to learn and that we respond in the best way possible. 

"So if we have a new variant, if it is as virulent, and easily transmissible, as it's suggested, I think we need to make sure that we move quickly enough might mean with restrictions on travel but also with the introduction of hotel quarantine."

On the latest NPHET recommendations, Ms McEntee said that Cabinet would meet on Tuesday to discuss face mask wearing for schoolchildren and the avoidance of Christmas plays, indoor playdates, sleepovers, communions, and children's birthday parties. 

She said that there "is not the appetite" in Government towards any lockdown scenario, but additional restrictions may be warranted.