‘My father is dying. I had to leave him to bring my family back’
Travellers tell of their trauma and panic as they rush into Ireland to avoid quarantine
A FATHER of two has said he had to leave his own terminally ill father in France and return home as he couldn’t put his wife and children through two weeks of hotel quarantine.
He said his father ‘begged him’ and his family to stay, but the man had to make the decision to leave yesterday for the sake of his own family.
The man, who preferred not to be named, told the Mail his wife and two children accompanied him to Léon in France to spend time with his ill father but he made the tough call to bring his Irish family home early as he had heard ‘too many horror stories’ about life in quarantine hotels for young families.
He said: ‘We were in France for six and a half weeks and planned to stay until May 8 in order to spend as much time as possible with my father. He begged us to stay, but we had no idea how long this mandatory quarantine regime would be in place for.
‘If these designated hotels could accommodate families in a suitable way, then we would have stayed, but we’ve heard of too many horror stories to take the chance.
‘People who travel to Spain on holidays should be made to quarantine, but it should not be happening to those with essential reasons.’
This comes as quarantine hotel bookings have been halted ‘on a precautionary basis’ due to concerns that there is not enough room to cater for all ‘high-risk’ passengers arriving into the country.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has confirmed that issues have emerged due to ‘walk-ins’ and airlines allowing passengers to board without having booked their two week stay online.
Hundreds of Irish people are frantically flying home before 16 new countries are added to the mandatory hotel quarantine list tomorrow. From 4am tomorrow morning, passengers arriving from the US and Canada, as well as a number of EU countries including France, Belgium and Italy will have to spend up to two weeks at a designated hotel. Many travellers and families arriving at Dublin Airport’s Terminal 1 from France yesterday told how they had been forced to frantically book their return tickets in a bid to avoid the €1,875 12-night stay.
Mr Donnelly told RTÉ’s Six One News last night that all mandatory hotel bookings have been paused while they assess the available capacity. It is understood bookings could be paused for up to four days.
‘The department is operating on a precautionary principle,’ Mr Donnelly said. ‘The hotel quarantine system has only been in place for 18 days. We’ve gone from 33 countries up to, I think, 71 countries now. On a precautionary basis, the department has paused the bookings to make sure we have the capacity. There is still a high level of walkins which shouldn’t be happening. Some of the airlines, which are meant to not be allowing people on the planes, are letting them on. Minister [Eamon] Ryan is engaging with the carriers on that.’
Mr Donnelly said there will be significant additional capacity from next Monday when room numbers will increase from 650 to around 960. The following week, there will be more than 1,300 rooms available.
Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman told The Tonight Show on Virgin Media last night that capacity in quarantine hotels will become available as existing residents complete their 12 days and vacate.
However he failed to address whether the current pause on the mandatory quarantine booking system is tantamount to a ban on travellers arriving from ‘high risk’ countries on the list, given they must book their stay before they travel.
Passengers returning to Ireland from France yesterday vented their frustration over the new quarantine rules.
One traveller who came from Paris on a connecting flight from the US said that Americans ‘would not stand’ being forced to spend 12 days in a hotel.
Leandra Welch had travelled to her native home of West Virgina to receive both her vaccines, but when she heard that the US would soon be added to the list, she made immediate plans to return to Ireland where she lives with her husband.
‘I said to myself, “I need to mobilise right now” and get back to avoid the €1,875 quarantine fee,’ she said.
‘I had been planning on staying home for another month, but knew returning to Ireland would save me so much hassle.’
UCD student Katie O’Dea, 23,
‘Still a high level of walk-ins’
said that she missed two flights trying to get out of France.
The young Dublin woman had been living in the Alps with a friend while doing her course work remotely, but made the snap decision to return home in order to avoid the costly fee.
‘I’ve been travelling for three days straight trying to get back,’ she told the Mail.
Mike Hawthorn, from Co. Down, said he wanted to avoid being quarantined ‘at all costs’. ‘I had been living in Paris, but when I found out France would be added to the list, I made immediate plans to come back for essential family reasons,’ he told the Mail. ‘These hotels are like prisons so there was no way I was going to subject myself to two weeks in one.’
Croatian national Martina Fisic, 30, had travelled to her native home for surgery, but described the return journey as ‘extremely stressful’. She said: ‘I woke up on Saturday morning with my friends alerting me about this new quarantine list. I was recovering from surgery and I started to get very stressed because I had to leave so soon. However, I’m glad the Irish Government gave us the time to organise ourselves and return without immediately enforcing the new restrictions.
‘The return flight wasn’t too bad but the plane was still full of people rushing to get back to Ireland with all sorts of personal reasons.’
French students, Charline Marrony and Solene Marduef, said they wouldn’t have returned to Ireland if it meant paying nearly €2,000.
The third-year law students at NUI Maynooth told the Mail they were glad they kept up to date with Irish news. ‘We’re glad it all worked out, but honestly wouldn’t have come back at all if we had to pay so much money to be quarantined,’ Ms Marrony said.
‘I hope that this is temporary’