Opposition says hotel quarantine legislation does not go far enough

A traveller checks departure information at Dublin Airport, as opposition parties say the Government's hotel quarantine legislation does not go far enough. Picture: Brian Lawless

The opposition has warned that the Government's hotel quarantine legislation, which is to be debated tomorrow, does not go far enough.

The legislation will see travellers from a list of 20 countries forced to quarantine in specific hotels in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and new variants of the disease.

The bill includes a provision to allow exit from quarantine before the completion of 14 days if travellers return a ‘not-detected’ Covid test upon arrival and again on day 10 of quarantine; there are a limited number of other circumstances under which travellers may leave quarantine such as for medical treatment or other humanitarian reasons.

The bill will expire three months after it has been passed unless extended by a motion passed in the Oireachtas.

Both Sinn Féin and the Labour Party say the mandatory quarantine must be extended to all countries.

Darren O'Rourke, Sinn Féin's transport spokesman, said: "It's incredible it has taken this long and there are a number of fundamental problems with the draft legislation.

"It doesn't directly or indirectly provide for mandatory hotel quarantine for all non-essential arrivals and technically they won't be listing the countries in the legislation. We have a sense of countries but they'll have to do that after the fact. That's a glaring issue with it.

"The other issue is, referring back to the NPHET ask to remove all discretion from post-arrival PCR testing, it doesn't go far enough. They had the opportunity to provide mandatory PCR for all incoming non-essential travel but they haven't."

Opposition spokespeople were given a briefing on Monday but say there was a "huge lack of specifics", including on issues like transport to hotels and the role of the Gardaí.

"We don't know when it is coming in, we don't know what hotels will be used, what private security firms will be used. All those have to be worked out, including how appeals will work and the practicalities of how that'll be implemented," Mr O'Rourke added.

The Labour Party party will be supporting the legislation but putting forward amendments to "strengthen it and make it a bit tougher".

"We're supportive of the legislation but believe it should be mandatory for all and doesn't go far enough," leader Alan Kelly said.

"It's nine months too late and the fact it took this length of time is quite worrying. There's a competency issue regarding the government's view of the seriousness of the situation. Variants don't have fixed abodes, the Brazillian variant could come in from London or Lisbon."