Government will not hold back on introducing tougher Covid-19 travel restrictions

Tough restrictions will not matter if there are not adequate checks and controls for those who do enter the country, opposition TDs said

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said it would be 'unfair' to place restrictions on the public and, at the same time, facilitate non-essential foreign travel. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

The Government will not hold back on introducing tougher Covid restrictions, including increased fines and the extension of hotel quarantining, the Transport Minister has told the Dáil.

Eamon Ryan said it would be "unfair" to place restrictions on the public and, at the same time, facilitate non-essential foreign travel.

However, the Dáil heard airline travel had collapsed since the onset of the pandemic and it would take years for it to fully recover.

Cork airport, for example, has just one airline serving one route, three times a week.

Mr Ryan said: "According to the latest figures from yesterday, the level of travel into the majority of our airports other than Dublin Airport had seen a 100% reduction because there was not a single passenger. 

Dublin Airport had seen a 98% reduction. That amount may need to be reduced further."

The Green Party leader added the reduction in travel into our airports and ports has "just about exceeded every other country" in the EU.

"In this, as in other areas, the Irish people have seen strong measures to restrict travel," he said.

However, Sinn Féin TD Darren O'Rourke said the total number of passengers is not the figure we should be focusing on but the number of people who enter the country with Covid and, particularly, those who are infected with new variants.

"If we do not have an adequate system of checks and controls, it will not matter how few are travelling here," he said.

Confirming the Government would follow the UK in extending the list of countries on the mandatory hotel quarantining list, Mr Ryan said the public health advice would be implemented "with speed".

It would be unfair if we, at home, were restricting our movements and our lives in many different ways when non-essential travel was seen to be facilitated."

He said fines for those taking non-essential foreign trips will be increased to €2,000, adding: "We would also consider other measures should such non-essential travel continue."

The Government has yet to set up the promised hotel quarantining but Mr Ryan said the legislation required would be brought to Cabinet next Tuesday.

He said he hoped the new mandatory quarantine system would pass through the Dáil and be rolled out within a matter of days after that.

"The legislation is not without complexity, and there are real concerns around civil liberties and other issues that we are seeking to get right. However, subject to the legislation being passed by this House, I imagine that it will be a matter of days following that, before it will be in place," Mr Ryan told the Dáil.

However Solidarity-PBP TD Bríd Smith hit out at the slow pace and said the Government's arguments around technical difficulties, the border and civil liberties "do not stack up".

"Last week, the Taoiseach spoke of his regrets about opening up the economy in December – a decision that led to the horrific impact of what we saw last night [ RTÉ's Prime Time Investigates]. However, for all those regrets, there is now a refusal by the Government to prepare and implement what is necessary, namely, a mandatory quarantine policy for people travelling to this country," she said.