Ireland 'months away' from opening up to international tourism – Leo Varadkar

The Tánaiste also told the Dáil that a full plan on the future of pandemic supports would be ready soon

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has ruled out international travel for 'many months'. Picture: Denis Minihane

Ireland is "many months away" from opening up to international tourism, the Tánaiste has said.

Speaking during Leaders' Questions, Leo Varadkar said a plan was needed for the return to international travel and to protect the aviation sector.

His comments came against the backdrop of the European Commission voting in favour of the introduction of a digital green certificate, which could pave the way for broader movement in the bloc, though some countries appear further along the road towards reopening for international tourism than Ireland. 

However, it is just too soon for that return to international travel, unfortunately. The pandemic is raging worse around the world than ever. We cannot escape that reality. 

"The world in a few months will be divided between heavily vaccinated states, unvaccinated and those that have adopted an elimination strategy where they are safe, but closed off.

"Travelling between those countries will be difficult. But we're not there yet. We're many months away from there."

Pandemic supports

Mr Varadkar also told the Dáil that a full plan on the future of pandemic supports would be ready soon. The Tánaiste told Sinn Féin's Louise O'Reilly that a "clear plan" will be set out by the end of May. 

He said some sectors will need "additional and ongoing support" because of their difficulties reopening. He said these supports may be needed "for quite some time".

In sectors of the economy that are only #reopening slowly the government needs to give an absolute assurance that the economic supports people need remain in place – @loreillysf pic.twitter.com/dEKp5gdQ52

— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) April 29, 2021

Ms O'Reilly said despite the "positive" announcement of about 200,000 returning to work in the coming weeks, many in tourism-related industries would not "through no fault of their own" and it was "not fair to not put shape around" the plans for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and Enhanced Wage Subsidy Scheme. 

The Government has said that there will be "no cliff edge" when these supports end at the end of June, but has not yet outlined the specifics of how this will work.

Mr Varadkar said "all going to plan", most businesses will reopen into July and hundreds of thousands of people will return to work. He said 15,000 businesses could open in May, returning 200,000 people back to work. He said with this would come a "bounce" in spending.

'Pent-up demand'

"There's a lot of pent-up demand," he said.

"There's a lot of money in savings accounts, and we will see a bounce in consumer spending, but we need to make sure that's not a dead cat bounce. 

The last thing you want to see is a boom in consumer spending, it falling off in a few months time, and at that same time, we withdraw broader financial supports that people need. That would be a mistake. We need to get this right."

Mr Varadkar said it was important to note that the money being used to fund the schemes was "all borrowed money" and needed to be repaid eventually.

The Tánaiste confirmed that the CRSS scheme for the hospitality sector will be available to pubs and restaurants which reopen in June on an outdoor basis as their trading capacity will be impacted.